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HISTORY   IN    BRIEF 


OF 


"Leopard"  and"  Linden," 

GENERAL   GRANT'S 

ARABIAN    STALLIONS, 

Presented  to  him  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  in  1879. 


ALSO  THEIR   SONS 


"GENERAL  BEALE,"  "HEGIRA,"  AND  "ISLAM," 

BRED    BY 

RANDOLPH    HUNTINGTON. 

ALSO  REFERENCE  TO  THE  CELEBRATED  STALLION 

"HENRY  CLAY." 


"  Stirps  Arabica  Vicil." 


PRINTED    FOR   THE   AUTHOR    BY 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY. 

1885. 


Copyright,  1885,  by  RANDOLPH    HUNTINGTON. 


^Gspgisgtgt-^* 


^ 

^ 


DEDICATED   TO 


AND     IN     MEMORY     OF     THE     LATE 


GENERAL   U.  S.  GRANT, 


HIS   LOVE   FOR    HORSES. 


GENERAL   U.  S.  GRANT'S 

ARABIAN     STALLIONS 

"LEOPARD"  AND  "LINDEN  TREE." 


All  my  life,  or  for  fifty  years,  I  had  desired  to  see  and  examine 
genuine  Arabian  horses,  such  as  I  could  know  to  a  certainty  were 
strictly  thoroughbred  Arabians.  That  they  were  rare  indeed  in  any 
country  I  knew. 

Writers  upon  them  were  very  superficial,  being  mostly  tourists 
or  travellers,  interested  in  geographical  matters,  or  in  the  people, 
customs,  and  relics,  with  traditional  associations,  seldom  if  ever  beine 
horsemen,  capable  of  judging  with  just  comparison,  if  I  except  Sir 
Wilfrid  S.  Blunt,  of  England,  who,  as  an  equine  investigator  of  re- 
markable ability,  in  company  with  his  wife  lived  with  the  Arabs  of  the 
desert  for  that  express  purpose,  and  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  very 
much  valuable  information  upon  the  subject. 

Different  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  also  Secretaries  of  State, 
have  at  various  periods  received  splendid  horses  as  presents  from 
Arabia  or  Turkey ;  the  last  President  receiving  such  a  gift  previous 
to  General  Grant  being,  I  believe,  James  K.  Polk.  In  i860  the  late 
William  H.  Seward,  while  Secretary  of  State,  had  two  fine  specimens 
sent  to  him  from  Syria ;  but  after  the  novelty  of  their  arrival  wore 
off,  none  could  tell  what  had  become  of  them,  while  those  loudest  in 
condemnation  or  ridicule  of  Arabian  horses  could  neither  say  they 
had  ever  seen  one,  nor  speak  with  personal  knowledge  of  the  get  by 
any  thoroughbred  Arabian  stallion.  In  the  matter  of  ex-Secretary 
Seward's  Arabians,  while  many  were  ready  to  condemn,  few  could 
remember  having  seen  them  ;  nor  could  any  one  point  me  to  the  get 
of  either  horse  upon  which  to  base  credit  or  discredit. 

5 


6  GENERAL   GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 

Persistent  inquiry,  oral  and  by  letter,  after  five  or  six  years'  time, 
gave  me  the  first  and  last  of  Seward's  two  Arab  horses,  now  dating 
back  twenty-five  years  ;  and  the  information  I  obtained  may  soon  startle 
such  as  are  interested  in  "time  standard"  breeding  rather  than  blood. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  however,  that  this  information  determined  me  to 
become  personally  interested  in  the  two  Arabian  stallions  presented  to 
General  Grant. 

As  General  U.  S.  Grant  outranked  in  the  estimation  of  the  people 
of  the  world  any  representative  man  America  had  produced,  both  as 
General-in-Chief  of  the  victorious  American  army  and  as  the  unani- 
mously re-elected  President  of  our  great  Republic,  it  is  but  natural  to 
suppose  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  would  honor  himself  and  his  Empire  by 
presenting  to  the  general  the  very  choicest  specimens  of  their  idolized 
horses,  the  Arabian. 

At  the  time  of  their  arrival  in  this  country  I  was  compiling  a  work 
devoted  to  Old  Henry  Clay,  to  be  entitled  a  "  History  of  Henry  Clay  ;" 
and  for  the  purpose  of  having  correct  sketches  of  representative  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  horse,  had  engaged  Herbert  S.  Kittredge  (since 
deceased),  whom  in  1876  I  had  encouraged  to  make  horse  portraiture 
his  profession.  Young  Kittredge  resided  with  me,  as  did  later  Andrew 
J.  Schultz,  who  was  to  study  under  him. 

When  General  Grant's  Arabians  were  thoroughly  recovered  from 
their  voyage  and  acclimated,  I  sent  Kittredge  to  sketch  them,  as  fron- 
tispieces to  my  "Clay  History,"  also  illustrative  of  blood  influences; 
Henry  Clay  being  but  a  third  remove  from  the  Arabian  upon  the 
paternal  side,  and  largely  inbred  to  that  blood  maternally  through  im- 
ported Messenger,  First  Consul,  and  Rockingham,  all  of  which  were 
of  Godolphin  Arabian  blood,  and  Messenger  himself  was  inbred  to  it. 

Young  Kittredge's  success  was  wonderful.  I  presentee  copies  of 
his  sketches  to  General  Grant,  to  General  E.  F.  Beale,  to  Paymaster- 
General  J.  Adams  Smith,  and  to  Hon.  Erastus  Corning,  also  to  one  or 
two  other  gentlemen  friends  whom  I  believed  trustworthy. 

General  Grant  pronounced  them  "perfect  to  life." 

General  E.  F.  Beale  wrote  me : 

"  I  return  you  my  thanks  for  the  pictures  of  Leopard  and  Linden.  They 
are  the  best  horse  pictures  I  have  ever  seen,  and  are  the  most  faithful  likenesses, 
being  great  credit  to  the  gifted  and  talented  Kittredge. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"E.  F.  BEALE. 
"  Lafayette  Square,  Washington,  D.  C." 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN  TREE."  y 

As  General  E.  F.  Beale  received  the  stallions  and  kept  them  at  his 
place,  "Ash  Hill,"  near  Washington,  for  three  years,  he  was  a  compe- 
tent critic  of  Kittredge's  work.  In  a  similar  manner  wrote  Paymaster- 
General  J.  Adams  Smith,  of  the  United  States  Navy.  General  Smith 
being  an  expert  horseman,  and  long  having  Grant's  Arabs  in  charge, 
his  opinion  is  of  equal  value.  Then  again,  Major  J.  K.  Levitt,  for  fifty 
years  known  in  Philadelphia  as  an  expert  horseman  and  judge  of  horses, 
pronounced  the  two  sketches  by  H.  S.  Kittredge  as  the  most  perfect 
likenesses  of  the  two  stations  which  he  had  at  any  time  seen  of  any 
horses.  Mr.  Levitt  was  the  man  who  first  received  the  stallions  to 
exhibit,  which  he  did  for  three  months  after  their  arrival. 

I  am  particular  in  quoting  these  criticisms  upon  my  sketches  as  ex- 
hibited in  this  book,  because  I  have  seen  numerous  prints  and  photo- 
graphs purporting  to  represent  General  Grant's  Arabian  stallions,  no 
one  of  which  has  been  the  least  like  them.  My  sketches  are  the  horses 
to  life,  upon  paper:  and  the  proofs  sent  me  by  Messrs.  J.  B.  Lippincott 
Company,  of  Philadelphia,  were  such  excellent  reproductions  that  I 
intrusted  the  publication  of  my  work  to  them. 

HOW    I    CAME   TO    ISSUE    THIS    BOOK. 

Early  in  May,  1885,  I  received  a  letter  from  a  gentleman,  intro- 
ducing himself  as  a  personal  friend  of  General  Grant  and  his  family, 
and,  as  such,  requesting  that  I  give  him  a  transcript  of  my  papers  per- 
taining to  the  general's  Arabian  stallions ;  as  to  their  shipment  from 
Constantinople,  date  of  shipment,  name  of  vessel,  commander,  port  of 
entry  and  date  of  arrival,  also  consignment ;  referring  me  to  General 
Grant  or  either  of  his  sons  as  to  himself.  By  the  next  mail  another 
letter  came  from  the  same  gentleman,  asking  permission  to  publish  ex- 
tracts from  my  private  letters  to  General  Grant  and  his  son  Ulysses 
regarding  the  two  stallions,  and  my  stallions  by  them  ;  also  asking  pic- 
tures of  my  young  horses  by  Leopard  and  Linden. 

While  the  refinement  and  courtesy  of  this  gentleman's  letter  was 
such  as  to  assure  me  of  his  good  intent,  I  felt  obliged  to  decline  his 
request.  As  pirating  of  my  expensive  sketches,  with  plagiarism  of  my 
public  writings,  had  been  the  order  of  the  day  for  the  past  three  years, 
I  had  grown  recluse. 

Upon  reflection,  and  knowing  the  condition  of  General  Grant,  I  felt 
that  it  might  be  some  pleasure  to  him  to  see  in  print  the  information  I 
had  obtained ;  also  the  result  of  my  experiments  in  breeding  to  his  two 
stallions  ;  hence  I  wrote  two  articles,  which  appeared  during  the  months 


3  GENERAL   GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 

of  May  and  June,  1885,  in  "  Dunton's  Spirit  of  the  Turf,"  published  at 
Chicago,  and  in  the  "  California  Breeder  and  Sportsman." 

These  two  articles  created  a  demand  for  a  publication  to  include  my 
sketches  of  General  Grant's  Arabians.  As  my  Clay  History  would  be 
delayed  a  long  time  for  want  of  means  to  reproduce  my  eighty  sketches 
representing  that  family,  I  decided  to  yield  to  the  demands,  and  publish 
a  book  devoted  to  General  Grant's  Arabs,  in  so  handsome  a  style  as  to 
become  a  souvenir  to  the  memory  of  Grant,  and  encourage  what  he 
would  have  liked  to  do  for  the  horse-breeders  of  America.  The  gen- 
eral was  a  great  lover  of  horses,  and  often  remarked  that  "  he  saw  no 
reason  why  America  should  not  have  a  national  horse ;  but  that  to 
produce  one  they  must  go  to  the  primitive  root,  the  same  as  did  Eng- 
land and  France,  also  Russia, — i.e.,  the  Arabian."  While  his  extreme 
modesty  prevented  him  from  suggesting  that  his  stallions  be  freely 
used,  I  knew  him  to  be  very  much  pleased  that  I  undertook  what  I  did, 
at  the  time  I  did,  and  in  the  way  I  did  ;  but  the  dear  good  man  will 
never  know  what  it  has  cost  me,  mentally  and  financially,  through 
popular  prejudice,  the  mighty  and  cruel  executioner  of  the  individual. 

I  will  now  devote  my  pen  to  the  two  horses  Leopard  and  Linden 
Tree.  The  two  names  as  I  give  them  are  the  English  translation  of 
the  Turkish  ;  but  in  speaking  of  them,  the  word  Tree  is  left  off,  making 
the  names  as  given  the  two  stallions,  Leopard  and  Linden. 

These  two  stallions  arrived  in  this  country  May  30,  1879.  They 
were  first  heard  of  in  Philadelphia,  where  they  were  exhibited  in  Gen- 
eral Grant's  name. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  18S0  I  went  to  Washington,  D.  C  ,  to  see 
and  to  examine  them,  also  to  learn  if  I  could  breed  to  them. 

•General  E.  F.  Beale,  a  lifelong  true  and  warm  friend  of  General 
Grant,  also  a  great  horse-lover,  had  the  two  horses  upon  his  beautiful 
farm  "Ash  Hill,"  just  outside  the  city,  and  near  to  the  Soldiers'  Home. 

Unfortunately,  General  Beale  was  in  California,  looking  after  his 
large  interests  upon  the  Pacific  ;  but  I  learned  that  Paymaster  J.  Adams 
Smith,  of  the  Navy  Department,  had  the  Arabs  in  charge,  and  was  also 
a  most  thoroughly  informed  horseman.  I  called  at  the  Naval  Pay- 
Office,  found  the  officer  disengaged,  and  enjoyed  a  long  and  interesting 
conversation  with  him  upon  Arabian  as  well  as  other  horses  in  the 
East,  and  all  over  the  world  in  fact,  for  they  seemed  to  have  been  a 
special  study  with  him  at  every  port  he  had  visited. 

It  may  surprise  some  of  our  so-called  horse-breeders  that  a  naval 
officer,  who  had  spent  most  of  his  days  at  a  naval  academy  or  on  board 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN  TREE."  q 

ship,  should  be  better  informed  than  some  professional  breeders  upon 
land;  but  I  have  found  it  to  be  frequently  the  case  with  both  naval  and 
army  officers.  Men  are  born  with  the  breeder's  gift,  and  no  matter  what 
their  calling  may  be,  that  gift  is  there,  waiting  only  the  opportunity  for 
development. 

Thus,  Paymaster  Smith  was  born  with  this  gift,  which  had  been  cul- 
tivated somewhat  in  boyhood  ;  then  through  years  of  observation,  with 
comparison  in  the  mind,  at  different  ports  of  the  world,  he  had  stored 
away  information  far  richer  than  that  of  men  delvine  a  lifetime  in  "one 
rut,"  with  one  idea,  "upon  one  side  of  the  fence." 

A  breeder  should  be  a  liberally-educated  man,  and  by  nature  a 
worker,  which  unfortunately  few  are.  He  should  be  a  physical  worker, 
also  a  mental  worker,  withal  a  thinker:  and  my  word  for  it,  there  is 
not  one  moment  for  play  or  recreation,  scarce  even  for  social  conver- 
sation. 

Some  of  my  very  best  correspondents  upon  the  questions  of  animal 
life  in  years  gone  by  have  been  officers  in  the  army  and  navy. 

The  question  of  blood  and  breeding  in  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and 
dogs  is  of  importance  to  all  civilized  nations,  which  these  men  know ; 
and  where  a  naval  officer  is  interested,  his  opportunities  for  information 
are  rare  indeed.  Naval  officers,  as  a  rule,  are  some  of  our  best- edu- 
cated men.  The  system  of  mental  training  in  the  navy  tends  to  make 
strong-minded  men  with  retentive  memories.  Their  restriction  to  con- 
finement, I  may  say,  in  connection  with  study,  breeds  and  encourages 
deep  thought  with  after-reflection.  Graduating  from  a  naval  academy, 
they  visit  by  schooling-ships  the  different  distant  ports  of  the  world,  cul- 
tivating observation  and  memory.  Curiosity  prompts  comparison,  and 
the  most  important  mental  faculty,  memory,  is  constantly  worked.  Cul- 
tivation of  the  three  traits,  observation,  comparison,  and  memory,  after 
the  young  mind  and  habits  have  been  trained  and  cultured  (refined), 
enhances  the  quality  of  the  growing  man,  all  being  at  any  moment 
successfully  applied  to  development  of  any  special  gift  possessed,  aside 
from  the  may  be  forced  legitimate  calling.  Thus,  the  merchant,  the 
doctor,  the  lawyer,  or  the  mechanic  can  become  a  successful  breeder  if 
he  has  the  breeder's  gift;  and  his  mental  culture,  with  trained  system, 
will  give  him  a  wonderful  advantage  over  the  yeoman  who  hates  "  book 
learnino." 

Paymaster  (later  Paymaster-General  U.S.N.)  Smith  was  by  instinct 
a  breeder  and  handler  of  horses  ;  or,  as  the  saying  is,  "  was  all  horse" 
when  not  otherwise  engaged.     He  was  a  splendid  driver,  and  superior 


IO  GENERAL   GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 

to  most  landsmen  in  the  saddle :  indeed,  I  considered  General  Beale 
fortunate  in  being  able  to  leave  General  Grant's  Arabians  in  charge  of 
so  able  a  gentleman,  during  his  trip  to  California.  Remember,  this 
was  the  spring  of  1880,  and  the  horses  had  been  at  "Ash  Hill"  only 
since  the  fall  of  1S79. 

I  was  impatient  to  see  the  Arabs  ;  so  after  dinner  Paymaster  Smith 
ordered  his  light  wagon,  and  as  I  write  I  think  of  that  delightful  ride  to 
"Ash  Hill."  Arriving  there,  the  smiling,  happy-faced  little  darkies 
greeted  us  with  "  massa"  dis  and  "  massa"  dat,  as  in  the  old  days,  the 
happiest  of  my  life. 

In  front  of  the  stables,  upon  a  beautiful  table-land  overlooking  acres 
of  meadow  pasturage,  with  scattered  barns  and  hay-ricks,  was  a  level 
spot  of  close,  fine  turf,  splendid  to  show  horses  upon.  Upon  this  the 
colored  groom  Addison  led  out  first  the  Arab  Leopard.  He  was  a 
beautiful  dapple-gray,  fourteen  and  three-quarter  hands  high  ;  his  sym- 
metry and  perfectness  making  him  appear  much  taller.  As  he  stood 
looking  loftily  over  the  meadows  below,  I  thought  him  the  most  beau- 
tiful horse  I  had  ever  seen.  With  nostrils  distended  and  eyes  full  of 
fire,  I  could  imagine  he  longed  for  a  run  upon  his  desert  home.  Addi- 
son gave  him  a  play  at  the  halter,  showing  movements  no  horse  in  the 
world  can  equal  but  the  thoroughbred  Arabian.  He  needed  no 
quarter-boots,  shin-boots,  ankle-boots,  scalping-boots,  or  protections  of 
any  kind  ;  and  yet  the  same  movements  this  Arabian  went  through 
would  have  blemished  every  leg  and  joint  upon  an  American  trotting- 
horse,  even  though  he  had  been  able  to  attempt  the  to  him  impos- 
sible activity. 

He  was  now  broug-ht  to  a  stand-still  that  I  might  examine  him;  not 
cocked  on  one  leg,  pointed  in  another,  or  straddled,  as  our  horses  would 
be  after  such  violent  exercise,  but  bold  and  erect  on  all  fours,  as  when 
first  led  out. 

I  began  at  his  head.  The  ear  was  very  small  and  fine,  much  as  Old 
Henry  Clay  had.  The  muzzle  was  small  and  fine,  the  mouth  handsome, 
and  lips  very  thin,  as  were  the  nostrils.  Between  the  eyes  he  was  full 
and  broad,  while  the  eyes  themselves  were  large,  brilliant,  and  of  the 
speaking  kind.  I  lifted  the  lids,  and  they,  too,  were  thin  and  delicate, 
not  coarse  and  heavy,  as  in  our  big-mouthed,  thick-lipped,  long,  heavy- 
eared  American  horse.  The  jowls  were  very  deep,  but  wide  between 
(so  much  condemned  in  Henry  Clay).  The  windpipe  was  large  and 
free,  running  low  into  the  breast.  The  neck  was  beautifully  arched, 
giving  the  impression  of  a  thin  crest,  which  I  expected  to  find,  from 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN   TREE."  XI 

numerous  writers'  reports.  Imagine  my  surprise  when,  upon  running 
my  hand  from  between  the  ears  down,  I  found  a  big,  thick,  hard  crest, 
as  if  a  three-  or  even  four-inch  new  cable-rope  were  inside.  This  was 
exactly  such  a  crest  as  was  in  Old  Henry  Clay,  which  lopped  over  like 
a  bag  of  meal  with  old  age ;  and  I  remembered  having  an  old  Mes- 
senger stallion,  years  ago,  with  exactly  such  a  crest,  which,  falling  over 
in  the  same  way  with  age,  was  a  great  torment  to  my  pride.  How  I 
do  punish  myself  in  these  days,  to  think  of  the  green  sheep-pelt  sweats 
I  gave  this  noble  old  Messenger  stallion  to  get  the  crest  so  it  would 
stay  up  in  place !  Verily,  boys  and  young  men  are  fools,  but  they  do 
not  know  it. 

Well,  Leopard  and  his  groom,  Addison,  remained  perfectly  still 
until  I  had  run  my  hands  over  every  part  of  the  horse's  body,  from 
the  tips  of  his  ears  to  the  bottom  of  his  feet,  even  to  examining  the 
texture  of  his  skin  or  hide,  to  see  if  it  contained  any  spots.  No 
more  perfect  animal  ever  lived  than  General  Grant's  Arabian  stallion 
Leopard. 

Now  for  his  gaits.  I  had  Addison  lead  him  on  the  walk  to  and  from 
me,  say  a  distance  of  two  or  three  hundred  feet,  that  I  might  see  the 
position  of  the  feet  in  walking.  There  was  no  twisting  behind,  nor 
paddle  in  front,  but  straight,  clean,  elastic  stepping.  I  now  had  him 
pass  me  at  the  side,  that  I  might  see  his  knee,  also  hock  and  stifle 
action.  From  the  walk  I  had  him  moved  upon  the  trot,  and  at  either 
walk  or  trot  every  movement  was  perfect.  The  knee-action  was  beau- 
tiful :  not  too  much,  as  in  toe-weighted  horses,  nor  stiff  and  staky, 
as  in  the  English  race-horse,  but  graceful  and  elastic,  beautifully  bal- 
anced by  movement  in  the  hock  and  stifle.  To  make  Leopard  a  very 
fast  trotting-horse  nothing  was  wanting  but  the  training  from  colthood, 
as  is  done  with  our  colts  of  to-day.  One  thing  we  should  gain  by 
training  such  a  colt  as  Leopard  was,  and  that  would  be  in  the  saving 
of  boots  with  other  mechanical  contrivances.  I  could  but  say  to 
myself,  truly,  "  God  has  made  all  things  perfect." 

I  have  been  accustomed  to  handling  stallions  for  the  past  thirty 
years,  hence  look  first  for  the  disposition.  At  this  time  Leopard's 
disposition  was  excellent,  or,  as  ladies  would  say,  "  lovely  !"  and  "  sweet !" 
Twice  this  horse  has  taken  the  first  premium  at  the  "  National  Horse 
Show  of  America"  over  his  stable  companion  Linden. 

Linden  Tree  (or  Linden,  for  short)  was  now  led  out.  This  horse 
lias  been  called  a  "jet-black"  by  some  papers,  which  was  a  mistake 
never  corrected  by  such  journals.     At  that  time,  the  spring  of  1880, 


I  2  GENERAL    GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 

Linden  was  a  beautiful,  smooth,  blue-gray,  which  this  summer  of  1885 
has  changed  to  a  white-gray. 

In  height  he  is  the  same  as  Leopard,  fourteen  and  three-quarter 
hands,  which  is  the  usual  height  of  the  thoroughbred  Arabian. 

In  build  he  was  more  compact  than  Leopard,  being  deeper  and 
broader;  of  more  substance,  but  with  just  as  clean  and  fine  limbs  as 
Leopard  had.  The  limbs,  joints,  and  feet  of  both  horses  were  perfect. 
The  fetlocks  could  not  be  found  ;  there  were  none.  The  warts  at  point 
of  ankle  were  wanting,  and  the  osselets  were  very  small.  Large,  coarse 
osselets  show  cold,  mongrel  blood.  The  crest  of  the  neck  in  Linden 
was  thick  and  hard,  the  same  as  in  Leopard.  This  fact  will  astonish 
some  fancy  horsemen,  who  are  led  to  believe  that  a  thin  crest  is  evi- 
dence of  fine  breeding.  My  experience  of  late  years  is  that  a  thin 
crest  belongs  to  a  long-bodied,  flat  horse,  of  soft  constitution. 

When  Job  said  the  "  neck  of  the  horse  was  clothed  with  thunder," 
he  had  reference  to  the  Arabian  horse.  As  the  shoulder  possesses  the 
greatest  strength  in  a  horse,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  the  neck,  to 
which  it  is  joined,  should  have  strength  in  harmony  therewith  ;  and  this 
bold,  stout  crest  of  the  Arab  was  just  as  God  wanted  it.  The  mane  in 
both  horses  was  very  fine  and  silky,  falling  over  so  as  to  cause  one  to 
believe  the  crest  was  a  knife-blade,  with  blade  up,  for  thinness.  The 
head  of  Linden  was  the  counterpart  of  Leopard  in  all  ways ;  as  in  fine, 
thin  muzzle,  lips,  and  nostrils  ;  also  small,  fine,  beautiful  ears,  thin  eye- 
lids ;  deep,  wide  jowls,  etc.;  but  the  face  looked  much  older,  although 
Linden  was  a  year  younger  than  Leopard. 

There  were  two  reasons  for  this  difference  in  the  countenance: 
First,  the  depression  over  the  eyes  in  Linden  was  greater,  which  feature 
is  said  often  to  indicate  advanced  years  in  sire  and  dam  when  the  foal 
was  got.  This  would  be  evidence  that  the  blood  of  Linden  was  very 
choice,  for  all  breeders  wish  to  get  from  their  choicest-bred  animals  as 
long  as  is  possible,  even  to  extreme  old  age ;  and  some  of  the  finest 
horses  I  have  ever  seen  have  been  produced  by  dams  thirty-six  and 
one  thirty-eight  years  old.  If  I  did  not  know  these  to  be  facts  I  would 
not  repeat  them  in  this  book. 

To  intensify  the  effect  of  depression  over  the  eyes  in  Linden  were 
large  black  markings  or  rings  around  them,  which  at  a  little  distance 
made  him  look  at  this  time  very  old  ;  with  me,  from  what  I  now  knew 
of  Arabian  horses,  these  marks  intensified  his  blood  value.  I  quote 
from  Sir  Wilfrid  S.  Blunt,  in  Lady  Anne  Blunt's  beautiful  work  entitled 
"The  Bedouin  Tribes  of  the  Euphrates":  "These  black  markings  are 


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"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN   TREE."  j, 

held  by  the  Arabs  of  the  desert  as  evidence  that  the  animal  is  of  the 
thoroughbred  Bint  El  Ahwaj  breed,  descending  from  the  children  of 
Ishmael,  and  from  which  breed  came  the  Godolphin  Arabian,  and  which 
Godolphin  Arabian  was  in  part  founder  of  the  French  Percheron  horse, 
also  of  the  best  strains  of  the  English  thoroughbred  running-horse  ;  and 
to  which  Godolphin  Arabian  imported  Messenger  was  three  times  close 
bred,  and  very  close  at  that  in  both  sire  and  dam.  Of  course  Arabian 
statements  are  traditionary,  but  facts  in  that  country  go  strongly  to 
support  their  traditions.  This  breed  of  which  I  am  speaking,  identified 
by  the  black  markings  around  the  eyes,  are  also  known  as  the  Kehi- 
lans,  from  these  markings  having  the  appearance  of  being  painted  with 
kohl,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Arab  women  ;  hence  the  desert  name  of 
Kehilans. 

"The  name  of  Kochlani  is  credited  to  King  Solomon's  stud;  but 
they  have  a  breed  in  Persia  by  this  name,  which,  although  they  are 
Arabian  horses,  are  impure." 

From  all  I  have  been  able  to  learn  from  abroad,  it  is  most  likely  that 
the  two  horses  represent  the  two  thoroughbred  breeds  of  "  Kehilan" 
and  "  Kochlani,"  the  two  choicest  of  the  desert. 

I  have  tried  to  impress  the  reader  with  the  feeling  that  I  considered 
Linden  the  better  horse  of  the  two,  and  will  give  my  reasons. 

During  the  inspection  of  the  Sultan's  choicest  horses,  General 
Grant,  who  had  an  excellent  eye,  with  judgment,  expressed  great  admi- 
ration for  the  beautiful  colt  Leopard,  and  it  was  presented  to  him  by 
the  Sultan.  Of  course  General  Grant  did  not  understand  the  Turkish 
or  Arabic  language,  and  could  not  comprehend  any  breeding  given  to 
him.  His  choice  or  selection  had  been  entirely  governed  by  superior 
beauty  with  wonderful  perfection  in  the  colt.  After  having  presented 
Leopard  to  the  general,  the  Sultan  desired  to  make  a  special  present 
of  his  own  selection  ;  and  holding  General  Grant  in  the  highest  possible 
esteem  as  General-in-Chief  of  the  victorious  United  States  army  under 
him,  and  also  knowing  him  to  have  been  twice  President  of  this  great 
American  people,  the  Sultan  would  naturally  have  an  individual  as  well 
as  a  national  pride  that  his  special  present  should  be  the  best  possible 
specimen  of  blood  and  breeding  to  be  had  through  his  power :  and  he 
knew  what  General  Grant  could  not  understand,  that  Linden  repre- 
sented blood  which  time  would  prove  of  more  excellence  than  in 
Leopard.  Under  the  circumstances,  does  any  man  suppose  the  Sultan 
would  insult  himself  and  his  power  by  presenting  an  inferior  selection 
to  General  Grant's  necessarily  ignorant  choice  ?     Every  breeder  can 


Xa  GENERAL    GRANT'S  ARAB  IAN  STALLIONS. 

understand  this  argument  from  selections  made  by  gentlemen  fanciers 
from  stock  he  has  bred  and  raised.  It  is  pretty  hard  work  to  tell  a 
gentleman  who  at  first  sight  "knows  it  all"  that  he  knows  very  little; 
but  General  Grant  was  not  of  that  class,  to  assume  knowledge.  Since 
arrival  in  this  country,  the  superior  beauty  and  grace  of  Leopard 
has  had  a  tendency  to  dwarf  Linden  in  public  opinion,  encouraged 
through  the  influence  of  printer's  ink.  He  has  been  credited  with 
being  vicious,  which  the  newspapers  were  very  noisy  about  at  one  time, 
in  and  over  a  suit  brought  against  General  Grant  for  keeping  such  a 
horse. 

During  the  early  spring  and  summer  of  1880,  also  in  1881,  I  han- 
dled the  two  stallions  many  times  in  and  out  of  their  boxes  at  "Ash 
Hill,"  at  which  time  I  had  my  mares  there  to  breed,  but  never  at  any 
moment  considered  Linden  vicious.  I  knew  that  he  was  all  horse,  and 
that  as  a  stallion  his  disposition  needed  watching  and  nursing  with  a 
kind  but  firm  hand.  Petulant  words,  with  habitual  scolding,  makes 
many  a  stallion  ugly  ;  and  many  a  groom  is  more  at  fault  than  the 
brute.  Arabian  stallions  are  very  sensitive  to  words,  quickly  appre- 
ciates the  kind,  cheerful  eood-morninsi.  The  human  voice  has  a  won- 
derful  influence  over  the  brute,  and  cross,  ugly  words  they  will  in  time 
resent. 

As  I  have  remarked,  I  put  these  two  stallions  through  their  gaits 
many  times,  finding  Linden  the  best  at  walk  or  at  trot,  because  more 
even  and  steady. 

At  the  "  National  Horse  Show"  in  New  York  Gity,  I  have  said 
Leopard  was  twice  awarded  a  first  premium  over  Linden,  to  which  by 
individual  comparison  he  was  entitled. 

The  judge  who  would  pronounce  otherwise  before  four  or  five 
thousand  people  would  be  called  very  incompetent:  but  looks  are 
deceptive. 

I  bred  six  mares  to  these  two  Arabian  stallions  in  1880  and  1881, 
getting  three  horse  colts  and  one  filly.  I  selected  kindred  blood  as 
found  in  Old  Henry  Clay's  daughters  and  inbred  granddaughters.  I 
handled  the  foals  from  the  time  they  were  born.  Three  were  by 
Linden  and  one  by  Leopard.  Not  one  of  them  is  ugly  or  inclined  to 
be  vicious.  All  are  broken,  and  not  one  has  at  any  time  offered  to 
kick  or  to  strike,  although  the  dams  of  each  one  were  high-strung,  high- 
tempered  mares,  two  of  them  particularly  so.  I  found  these  Arab 
colts,  while  very  small,  required  different  treatment  from  mongrels, 
hence  haltered  and  handled  them  myself  up  to  this  present  time,  in  and 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN   TREE."  15 

about  the  stable,  for  that  is  the  place  the  disposition  is  improved  or 
spoiled.  When  two  years  old,  my  daughter  could  drive  the  son  of 
Leopard  anywhere,  for  he  was  fearless  and  reliable. 

I  will  now  speak  particularly  of  the  colors  of  Arabian  horses.  I 
have  before  said  that  one  of  General  Grant's  stallions  had  been  re- 
ported through  a  leading  daily  paper  as  "jet-blacky  Hundreds  who 
read  that,  will  believe  it  and  report  it  for  fifty  years  to  come,  until  it 
becomes  traditional.  It  is  a  bad  mistake,  as  a  black  Arabian  is  an 
unusual  color,  and  denotes  inferiority.  I  will  quote  again  from  Sir 
W.  S.  Blunt:  "Bay  with  black  points,  and  with  generally  a  white  foot, 
or  two  or  three  white  feet,  and  a  snip  or  blaze  down  the  face,  are 
prominent  among  the  Anazeh  or  Bint  El  Ahwaj  breed.  Grays  are 
also  common,  then  chestnut  of  different  shades.  The  spotted,  or  pie- 
bald, or  parti-colored  horses  are  unknown  among  the  pure  Arabs. 
The  pure  white  is  very  highly  prized." 

At  birth,  the  gray  horse  is  black  ;  and  the  true  black  horse  is  born 
of  a  brown  shade.  In  the  first  moulting,  the  proper  color  shows  itself  to 
the  breeder.  The  dapple-gray  will  show  gray  at  the  first  moulting,  but 
the  blue-gray  and  black-gray  will  carry  a  black  coat  into  the  second 
and  third  moulting,  the  black  hairs  always  shedding  first,  so  that  the 
novice  is  frequently  puzzled  to  tell  what  colored  horse  he  is  to  have  at 
maturity.  The  blue-gray  grows  to  a  white  gray,  but  the  dapple-gray 
holds  its  distinctive  color  longest,  as  a  rule. 

Having  bred  my  mares  to  General  Grant's  Arabs  in  the  spring  of 
1880,  I  became  quite  anxious  to  know  all  particulars  relating  to  them, 
lest  in  future  days  some  as  yet  unborn  writer  should  tell  his  readers 
that  General  Grant's  horses  were  genuine  imported  Barbs,  or  maybe 
Andalusian  horses,  when  any  old  man  knowing  to  the  contrary  would 
be  disputed  into  silence.  The  pedigrees  of  our  horses  credit  Arabian 
blood  frequently  in  some  of  the  fastest  and  most  valued  animals  ;  but 
attempt  to  unravel  such  breedings,  and  one  lands  among  the  "said  to 
be's,"  which  is  not  the  case  in  England,  or  in  Russia,  or  in  France. 
They  breed  thoroughbreds  of  various  kinds,  and  tell  you  how  they  are 
bred  to  a  certainty;  while  with  us,  the  time  standard  for  the  present 
generation  settles  it  all,  in  which  blood  is  of  no  value  except  in  the 
black  article  known  as  printers'  ink. 

In  fifteen  years  after  Seward's  Arabs  were  imported,  any  authentic 
information  as  to  their  blood  and  breeding,  their  whereabouts,  or  their 
get,  was  a  difficult  matter  to  get  at.  The  same  was  the  case  with  those 
of  James  K.  Polk,  and  so  it  has  been  in  many  instances  where  I  have 


I  5  GENERAL    GRANTS  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 


investigated.  If  Arabian  blood  was  of  value  to  England,  to  France, 
and  to  Russia,  so  it  could  be  to  America,  for  certainly  we  have  not  the 
self-sustaining  types  in  horses  to  do  credit  to  any  civilized  country  as 
have  the  nations  cited.     Should  we  export  our  present  horses  ? 

Having  obtained  all  I  could  from  Paymaster  Smith,  I  awaited  Gen- 
eral E.  F.  Beale's  return  from  California.  From  him  I  did  not  get 
what  I  wanted.  I  then  wrote  to  General  Grant  himself,  and  give  below 
his  reply. 

"  Long  Branch,  N.  J.,  July  28,  1882. 
"  Randolph  Huntington,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

"  Dear  Sir, — About  my  Arabian  horses,  I  cannot  answer  all  your  questions, 
but  what  I  know  I  will  give  you. 

"I  was  in  Constantinople  in  March,  1S78,  and  visited  the  Sultan,  and  with 
him  his  stables. 

"  All  of  his  horses  were  of  the  most  approved  and  purest  blood  (and  there 
were  about  seventy  horses  in  the  stables  I  visited).  I  was  told  that  the  pedigrees 
of  all  of  them  ran  back  from  five  to  seven  hundred  years  (in  breed). 

"  Two  of  the  horses  that  I  then  saw  were  sent  to  me  as  a  present  from  the 
Sultan  by  the  first  steamer  directly  to  the  United  States  from  that  port.  I  do 
not  know  the  name  of  the  steamer,  nor  the  date  of  its  departure  or  arrival.  They 
(the  horses)  were  consigned  to  General  E.  F.  Beale,  of  Washington  City,  who  can 
probably  inform  you  upon  those  points.  Leopard  was  five  years  old  when  I  first 
saw  him,  and  Linden  four,  I  think.  I  am  certain  as  to  the  age  of  the  first,  and 
think  I  am  right  about  the  age  of  the  second. 

"  The  fact  of  these  horses  being  from  the  Sultan's  own  private  stables,  and 
being  a  present  from  him  as  an  appreciation  of  our  country  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  is  the  best  proof  of  the  purity  of  their  blood. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"U.  S.  GRANT." 


I  now  knew  that  neither  General  Grant,  General  Beale,  nor  Pay- 
master-General Smith  could  give  me  the  identifying  facts  I  wanted  for 
fifty  years  hence. 

I  remembered  hearing  my  cousin,  Mrs.  Dr.  Anderson,  of  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  say  to  me  one  day  while  visiting  there,  that  Gen- 
eral Grant  had  two  horses  arrive  at  that  port  by  a  foreign  vessel,  and 
that  they  were  said  to  be  Arabians.  Upon  which  she  went  to  the  doc- 
tor's desk  and  took  out  some  nails  his  blacksmiths  had  given  him  when 
they  removed  the  shoes  to  re-shoe  the  stallions. 

As  these  remarks  were  incidental  with  other  subjects  at  the  time,  1 
paid  no  special  attention  to  them ;  but  memory  often  comes  to  our  help, 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN   TREE.' 


17 


so  I  addressed  a  letter  to  William  D.  Anderson,  M.D.,  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  and  below  give  his  reply : 

"  Randolph  Huntington,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

"  Dear  Sir, — I  would  say  in  reply  that  the  Arabian  stallions  for  General 
Grant  were  shod  by  my  blacksmiths,  Messrs.  Palmer  &  Bishop,  in  this  city  of 
New  Haven,  Connecticut,  on  May  31,  1879;  that  they  (the  horses)  having  ar- 
rived the  day  before  direct  from  Constantinople  by  the  steamer  Norman  Mon- 
arch, Dunscomb,  commander.  The  steamer  at  that  time  was  chartered  to  freight 
cartridges,  guns,  etc.,  to  Turkey,  from  the  Winchester  Arms  Company  in  this 
city. 

"  She  (the  Norman  Monarch)  made  the  trip  direct,  entering  and  clearing  at 
this  port.  My  blacksmith  went  on  board  and  removed  the  shoes  from  the  horses, 
then  took  the  stallions  to  his  shop,  where  they  were  re-shod  and  kept  in  his 
stables  until  delivered  to  Mr.  J.  K.  Levitt,  of  the  Blue  Bell,  Darby  Road,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  and  from  where  he  exhibited  them  until  delivered  to  General  E.  F. 
Beale  at  Washington  City,  for  account  of  General  U.  S.  Grant. 

"  Truly  yours, 

"WILLIAM    D.  ANDERSON,  M.D. 
"New  Haven,  Conn.,  August,  1882." 

I  next  called  upon  Major  J.  K.  Levitt,  of  Philadelphia,  who  told  me 
that  in  June,  1879,  while  driving  a  race  at  the  Belmont  Park,  Mr.  Ed- 
wards called  upon  him  with  a  despatch  from  General  Beale,  requesting 
that  he  should  go  with  Mr.  Edwards  to  New  Haven  for  two  horses  for 
General  Grant.  That  they  brought  them  by  boat  to  New  York,  and 
thence  to  Philadelphia.  That  they  were  shown  two  weeks  at  Suffolk 
Park,  then  at  their  fair,  which  association  paid  him  for  the  exhibit. 
Next  the  fair  at  Dover,  Delaware,  gave  him  two  hundred  dollars  and 
expenses  to  exhibit  there.  He  then  exhibited  them  a  week  at  the 
Washington,  D.  C,  Agricultural  Fair ;  then  at  the  fair  at  Alexandria, 
Virginia.  Next  at  the  fair  at  Cumberland,  West  Virginia,  and  lastly  at 
the  Doylestown  Fair  of  Pennsylvania. 

It  now  being  late  in  the  fall  of  1879,  Major  Levitt  ceased  to  care 
for  the  horses,  delivering  them  into  the  possession  of  General  E.  F. 
Beale  at  Washington,  D.  C,  to  remain. 

I  have  been  particular  in  following  up  these  two  Arabian  stallions 
presented  to  General  Grant.  I  deemed  their  blood  of  important  value 
to  us.  I  would  not  condemn  such  breeders  as  ridicule  Arabians,  but 
would  ask  questions. 

If  Arabian  blood  is  of  no  value,  why  does  England  go  back  in  her 
records  to  so  many  importations  of  Arabian  horses  to  create  and  sus- 


,5  GENERAL   GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 

tain  her  national  thoroughbred  running-horse?  Why  does  Russia  take 
pride  in  referring  to  her  Orloff  trotting-horse  as  of  Arabian  origin  ? 
Why  does  France,  through  government  statistics,  show  that  her  famous 
Percheron  draught-horse  is  moulded  from  the  pliable  blood  of  the 
Arabian  ? 

When  men  condemn  Arabian  horses,  let  them  cease  to  extol  Mes- 
senger, Diomed,  Duroc,  American  Eclipse,  Sir  Archy,  Boston,  or  Lex- 
ington, each  of  which  owed  its  greatness  to  Arabian  blood  ;  Diomed 
and  Messenger  being,  as  the  reader  knows,  close-bred  to  the  Arabian, 
and  Messenger,  which  name  has  been  the  mouth-piece  for  our  breeders 
and  horsemen  for  seventy-five  years,  was  three  times  inbred  to  the 
Godolphin  Arabian. 

Young  men  think  there  has  been  wonderful  improvement  in  our 
horses  during  the  past  thirty  years.  I  do  not  think  so.  When  I  take 
up  the  little  horse-shoe  nail,  but  a  trifle  heavier  than  an  old-fashioned 
shawl-pin,  or  examine  the  shoe,  the  harness,  the  sulky,  the  tracks,  the 
system  of  training,  with  other  improved  advantages  towards  increased 
rates  of  trotting  speed,  and  then  look  at  our  inferior  coach-horses,  and 
know  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  even  an  ordinarily  good  pair,  I  must 
say  that  our  horses  have  degenerated,  while  our  mechanical  ingenuity 
towards  increased  speed  has  augmented.  That  the  number  of  trotting- 
horses  is  greater  than  a  few  years  ago,  is  because  we  have  a  greater 
number  of  horses;  and  because  one  hundred  are  now  trained  for  speed 
where  one  was  twenty  years  ago. 

England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Russia  have  each  a  typical  horse, 
capable  of  reproducing  its  type  with  excellence  in  any  land  to  which  it 
may  be  exported.  They  are  the  thoroughbred  race-horse,  the  Clyde, 
and  the  Percheron  draught-horses,  and  the  Orloff  trotting-horse. 
Every  one  of  these  types  is  a  thoroughbred  in  its  country,  based  upon 
the  Arabian;  and,  exported  to  any  land,  will  reproduce  itself  physically 
and  instinctively,  which  our  time-standard  bred  horses  will  not  do  at 
present. 

What  we  would  term  our  national  horse  is  of  no  positive  blood,  or 
instinctive  value.  It  cannot  and  will  not  reproduce  itself  in  a  creditable 
manner  to  export  as  our  national  horse.  Our  system  of  breeding  is 
one  of  great  mongrelization,  which,  as  I  have  repeatedly  written,  means 
uncertainty  with  degeneracy. 

Our  vast  territory  demands  more  horses  than  any  other  country. 
Our  unlimited  grass  lands  invite  and  encourage  the  breeding  of  horses, 
whether  the  owner  of  the  lands  be  adapted  as  a  breeder  or  not.     Our 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN  TREE."  lg 

varied  climates  and  soil,  with  everywhere  abundant  and  excellent  water, 
are  most  favorable  to  the  raising  of  all  kinds  of  stock  for  export. 

The  producing  of  specialties  in  the  horse  is  demanded  by  our  uses, 
as  well  as  required  for  general  purposes. 

The  demand  for  coach-horses  increases  as  our  city  people  multiply 
and  wealth  increases.  A  high  form  of  coach-horse  is  in  constant  de- 
mand, but  exceedingly  difficult  to  find.  Such  a  horse  is  always  a  first- 
class  farm-horse,  and  can  be  a  first-class  road-horse,  profitable  to  every 
farmer  to  breed  and  to  raise. 

Our  territory  is  so  great,  and  our  commercial  interests  so  scattered 
and  extended,  that  the  road-horse  becomes  an  important  feature,  so 
connected  with  commercial  and  agricultural  pursuits  that  it  should  be 
cultivated.  Our  great  national  sport  is  the  trotting-race,  which  in  Eng- 
land is  the  running-race.  The  race-  or  running-horse  is  good  for  the 
one  purpose  of  running  races.  The  trotting-horse  can  be  used  for 
every  purpose  except  running  races  ;  hence  to  me  it  seems  proper  it 
should  become  our  national  horse,  to  come  under  the  intelligent  head 
of  blood  and  breeding  with  instinctive  trot. 

A  positive  thoroughbred  trotting-bred  horse  is  a  possibility ;  and 
the  independent  nature  of  the  American  people  is  such  I  feel  they 
should  take  a  national  pride  in  creating  a  national  horse,  independent 
of  any  other  nation.  The  Arabian  horse,  as  we  know,  is  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  England  established  her  race-horse,  Russia  her  trotting- 
horse,  and  France  her  draught-horse. 

We  have  proven  that  from  the  Arabian  we  can  get  the  highest  rates 
of  trotting  speed.  We  know  that  its  blood  and  instinct  are  more  pli- 
able to  man's  demands,  for  moulding  into  different  families,  than  are 
either  of  the  European  types  cited.  We  know  that  our  so-called 
trotting-horse  is  not  a  positive  reproducer  of  that  ability.  We  know 
that  each  exceptional  case  of  high  trotting  speed  traces  to  the  Arab 
not  far  away  ;  we  know  that  the  reunion,  or  bringing  together  of  bloods 
akin,  of  close  affinity,  gives  the  strongest  results. 

Thus,  when  the  blood  of  Henry  Clay  (which  was  but  a  third  remove 
from  the  Arab)  is  bred  to  itself,  increased  speed  is  a  certain  result,  and 
when  reinforced  with  fresh  Arabian  blood,  a  higher  type  is  the  result, 
with  the  trotting  instinct  intensified. 

The  law  in  animal  life  as  relates  to  breeding  of  positive  types  is 
once  away  from  a  primitive  blood,  then  three  times  back  to  it  through 
different  channels. 

As  I  have  said,  the  horse  Henry  Clay  was  but  a  third  remove  from 


20  GENERAL    GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 

an  imported  Arabian,  paternal,  and  more  than  thrice  back  upon  the 
maternal  side.  If  his  dam,  Lady  Surry,  be  discounted  by  some,  they 
must  remember  she  was  far  above  the  old  "Vintner  mare"  which  has 
figured  so  disparagingly  in  the  English  race-horse  maternal  foundation. 

Through  Henry  Clay's  daughters,  granddaughters,  and  great-grand- 
daughters we  enlist  the  immortal  names  of  Andrew  Jackson  and 
Henry  Clay  in  dams.  As  the  male  since  the  first  of  man  has  given 
the  name  and  founded  the  family,  what  more  appropriate  start  could 
be  made  for  a  laudable  and  positively  independent  national  horse  than 
by  bringing  the  foundation  blood  in  the  Andrew  Jackson,  Henry  Clay 
daughters,  to  a  union  with  the  pure,  primitive,  unquestioned  blood  of 
General  Grant's  Arabian  stallions  ? 

By  so  doing  we  should  honor  ourselves  in  our  to  be  national  horse, 
through  three  of  the  greatest  names  our  country  has  possessed. 

First  comes  that  of  General  U.  S.  Grant,  known  and  respected  by 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  also  loved  by  over  fifty  millions  of  people 
as  no  other  great  captain  ever  was.  On  the  maternal  side  we  have 
the  General  and  ex-President  in  Jackson,  who  knew  no  fear;  and  in 
Henry  Clay  a  statesman  without  a  peer.  It  is  a  singular  coincidence 
that  we  should  have  these  three  immortal,  national  names  attached  to 
representative  horses  direct  from  the  primitive  horse,  and  independent 
of  any  other  nation,  from  which  and  upon  which  to  found  and  create 
"  The  National  Thoroughbred  Trottin^-bred  horse  of  America !" 
General  Grant,  Andrew  Jackson,  and  Henry  Clay. 


The  following  transcript  from  English  records,  relating  to  the  found- 
ing and  establishing  of  their  thoroughbred  running-horse,  may  be  inter- 
esting to  many ;  so  I  take  the  liberty  of  copying  it  from  the  London 
"  Field"  of  some  time  since.  It  will  be  noticed  that  from  the  early 
attempts  in  England  to  establish  a  thoroughbred  running-horse  they  had 
great  difficulty,  owing  to  internal  and  external  wars,  with  many  troubles 
recorded  in  history ;  but  that  they  depended  entirely  upon  Arabian 
blood  the  following  transcript  will  show.  The  same  was  the  case  in 
Russia  for  the  creating  of  their  thoroughbred  Orloff  trottingdiorse, 
which  records  are  very  interesting  and  more  authentic  than  are  the 
early  English  records.  So,  too,  in  France,  in  matter  of  their  Percheron, 
they  are  more  definite.     In  Russia  and  in  France  the  government  gave 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN   TREE."  2I 

support  to  the  attempts,  once  the  individuals  had  laid  the  foundation ; 
but  in  each  case  the  plastic  Arabian  blood  had  to  be  resorted  to. 

ARAB    HORSES   AND    THE    TURF. 

"  Sir, — I  am  unable  to  say  precisely  when  the  Royal  Stud  at  Tutbury 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Parliamentarians  ;  but  it  must  have  been  some 
time  prior  to  July,  1643,  as  on  the  23d  of  that  month  four  Government 
commissioners,  viz.,  Mildemay,  Lempriere,  Carteret,  and  Grafton,  ar- 
rived at  the  stud  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  true  inventory  of  the 
race-horses  kept  there,  '  being  part  of  the  late  king's  personal  estate.' 
Four  days  after  the  date  of  their  arrival  the  inventory  was  completed, 
and  was  duly  signed  and  sealed  by  each  of  those  inquisitors.  Appar- 
ently the  work  was  done  in  a  slovenly  and  careless  manner,  and  it  is 
probable  serious  mistakes  were  occasionally  committed  by  the  commis- 
sioners in  confusing  the  names  of  the  stallions  with  those  of  the  ani- 
mals enumerated  in  the  catalogue,  and  vice  versa.  This  inventory,  or 
catalogue,  though  most  interesting,  is  too  long  to  transcribe  here  in 
detail ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  it  consisted  of  one  hundred  lots,  compris- 
ing twenty-three  mares  and  their  foals,  fifteen  mares  four  years  old  and 
upwards,  sixteen  three-year-old  fillies  and  colts,  seventeen  two-year-old 
fillies  and  colts,  twenty-two  yearling  fillies  and  colts,  and  twenty-three 
horses  four  years  old  and  upwards  ;  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  head, 
all  told.  No  specific  mention  of  any  stallion  occurs  in  the  inventory 
(except,  as  in  some  cases  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  name  of  the  stal- 
lion, and  not  that  of  the  lot,  was  intended  to  be  given),  hence  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  sires  were  removed  and  kept  at  some  other  place  at  the 
time  this  inventory  was  taken.  A  valuation  of  each  lot  is  given, — the 
whole  amounting  to  nineteen  hundred  and  eighty-two  pounds,  or  an 
average  of  not  quite  fourteen  guineas  per  head. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  many  of  those  lots  were  imme- 
diately descended  from  the  Digby  and  Villiers  Arabs  previously  referred 
to,  of  which  the  latter  had  been  imported  by  James  I.,  towards  the  latter 
end  of  his  reign.  Let  us  take  a  few  instances :  (Lot  5)  '  Black  Mo- 
rocco. One  black  mare  with  a  few  white  haires  in  the  forehead,  5  yeares 
old,  with  a  horse  foale,  £22!  (Lot  9)  '  Morocco.  One  brown  bay 
mare  with  a  starre,  two  white  heels  behind,  1  2  yeares  old,  with  a  horse 
foale,  ^25.'  (Lot  24)  '  Young  Morocco.  One  bay  mare  without  white, 
4  yeares  old,  with  a  horse  foale,  ^16.'  (Lot  35)  '  Black  Morocco.  One 
black  mare  without  white,  10  yeares  old,  ,£10.'  (Lot  52)  'Morocco. 
One  browne  bay  horse  with  a  little  starr,  5  yeares  old,  £t>°'     Here 


22 


GENERAL    GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 


we  see  the  same  name  given  to  lot  9  and  lot  52,  the  former  a  twelve- 
year-old  mare,  the  latter  a  five-year-old  horse,  by  which  it  is  evident 
that  the  stallion,  and  not  the  name  of  the  lot  in  the  inventory  (as  in  a 
modern   Tattersall    catalogue),  was   intended   to   be   given.      'Browne 
Newcastle'  likewise  precedes  lot  6  and  lot  22,  the  former  a  '  browne 
bay  mare  without  white,  6  yeares  old,  with  a  mare  foale,  ,£15  ;'  and  the 
latter  a  'browne  bay  mare  without  white,  7  yeares  old,  with  a  mare 
foale,  £22,.'     The  highest  valuations  in  the  catalogue  were  put  upon 
the    produce  of   Rupert,   an   Arab    stallion    belonging   to   the  Yilliers 
'  race,'  lots  53,  64,  66,  and  69  in  rotation,  which  are  described  as  fol- 
lows :   '  One  bright  bay  horse,  witli  a   starr  and  a  snip,  4  white  feete, 
black  list  downe  the  back,  4  yeares  old,  ^35.     One  browne  bay  [horse] 
without  white,  4  yeares  old,  ^35.     One  browne  bay  horse,  4  yeares  old, 
with  a  starre,  ,£25.     One  bright  bay  horse  with  a  black  list,  and  one 
white  foote,  ^25.'     It  is  evident  some  of  Sir  John  Fenwick's  famous 
Arabian  '  race'  were  introduced  into  the  royal  racing  stud,  as  I  find  lot 
25  is  entered  thus:   '  Sorrell  Fennick  [so  spelt  by  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle in  his   Magnum   Opus],  one  Sorrel  mare  with  a  blaze,  9  yeares 
old,  with  a  mare  foale,  £iS.'     So  also  with  the  celebrated   Arab  stud 
maintained  at  this  time,  and  subsequently  after  the  Restoration,  at  Wel- 
beck  Abbey  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  as  indicated  by  lots  2,  3,  6,  18, 
22,  26,  59,  61,  96,  9S,  and  99,  from  which  we  may  infer  (taken  with  other 
corroboratory  evidence)  that  the  royal  mares  in  King  Charles's  stud  were 
occasionally  served  by  stallions  belonging  to  those  notable  breeders  in 
the  seventeenth  century.     Upon  the  whole,  this  inventory,  though  im- 
perfectly and  carelessly  drawn  up,  proves  that  the  principal,  and  prob- 
ably the  subordinate  lots  at  the  royal  stud,  immediately  prior  to  the  year 
1643,  were  derived  from  and  represented  in  the  Arab  blood,  which  was 
deemed  indispensable  by  the  best  breeders  of  those  days.     As  to  the 
yearlings,  the  two-year-old  and  the  three-year-old  colts  and  fillies,  from 
lot  36  to  lot  49,  no  reference  is  made  to  either  sire  or  dam,  the  color, 
marks,  age,  and  valuation  of  each  lot  only  being  recorded.     But  lots  68 
and  72 — the  former  a  three-year-old  gray  colt,  valued  at  twelve  pounds, 
the  latter  a  three-year-old  bay  colt,  valued  at  fifteen  pounds — were  got 
by  Frisell,  a  son  of  the  Markham  Arabian.     (Frisell  is  also  mentioned 
as  the  stallion  of  lot  14 — 'a  bright  bay  mare,  with  a  streake,  12  yeares 
old,  with  a  horse  foale,  ,£22.')      The  other  yearlings,   two-  and  three- 
year-old  colts  and  fillies,  from  lot  73  to  lot  95,  are  simply  described  and 
valued,  without  any  clue  of  their  names  or  parentage  being  given.     It 
is  unfortunate  that  these  omissions  should  have  occurred,  particularly 


'•LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN   TREE."  2, 

as  the  sequestrators,  by  a  little  trouble  and  inquiry,  could  have  obtained 
the  necessary  information  from  Mr.  Gregory  Julian,  who,  as  yeoman 
of  the  stud,  was  still  in  office,  although  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  and 
many  of  the  officials  previously  mentioned,  had  ceased  to  exercise  their 
several  duties  at  erst  royal  haras.  It  may  be,  however,  that  the  omis- 
sions to  which  I  have  referred  as  occurring  in  the  two  contemporary 
transcripts  of  this  inventory  which  I  have  had  access  to — one  in  the 
Record  Office,  the  other  in  the  Victoria  Tower,  House  of  Lords — are 
supplied  in  the  original  document  preserved  among  the  Marquis  of 
Salisbury's  manuscripts  at  Hatfield,  which  I  have  not  seen. 

"  Such  was  the  state  of  the  king's  stud  at  Tutbury  when  the  inventory 
was  finished,  July  27,  1649.  Prior  to  this  date,  however,  a  bay  horse, 
three  years  old,  and  a  black  horse,  five  years  old,  by  Newcastle,  had 
been  'taken  up'  by  Quartermaster  Tomlinson.  These  were  returned 
to  the  stud,  and  figure  in  the  inventory  at  a  valuation  of  thirty  pounds 
each.  Colonel  Sanders  obtained  two  black  horses,  five  years  old,  and 
a  bay  mare  '  with  a  tanned  mussell,  8  years  old,  with  a  mare  foale,' 
which  remained  in  his  custody,  the  horses  being  valued  at  twenty  pounds 
each,  and  the  mare  and  foal  at  sixteen  pounds. 

"  No  time  was  lost  by  the  authorities  in  London  in  taking  action  as 
to  the  future  of  the  ex-royal  stud.  On  July  31  the  Council  of  State  at 
Whitehall  had  the  inventory  under  consideration,  when  it  was  decided 
that  in  consequence  of  the  great  destruction  of  horses  during  the  late 
wars,  and  as  Tutbury  was  'the  only  place  in  England'  where  provision 
could  be  made  of  a  good  breed,  and  the  sale  of  the  stock  at  this  time 
preserved  there  would  not  equal  what  it  amounted  to  in  the  way  it  was 
then  used,  the  Council  determined  not  to  sell  off  the  horses  until  further 
consideration.  This  decision  was  received  with  general  satisfaction,  for 
the  Roundheads  liked  a  good  horse  as  much  as  the  Cavaliers.  And  it 
may  be  noted  that  in  suppressing  horse-racing,  the  Parliamentarians 
were  not  actuated  by  any  innate  antipathy  to  the  Turf,  as  they  were 
constrained  to  do  so  chiefly  owing  to  the  excuse  which  a  projected  race 
meeting  presented  to  the  Royalists  to  assemble,  under  cover  of  the  sport, 
to  disseminate  sedition.  Indeed,  they  but  followed  the  example  of 
the  Royalists  in  that  respect,  for  it  is  on  record  that  General  Sir  Jacob 
Astley  suppressed  a  race  meeting  at  Berwick  in  the  spring  of  1 639, 
which  was  projected  by  the  Scotch  Covenanters  chiefly  as  a  rendezvous 
to  mass  their  forces  in  a  favorable  position  to  resist  the  king's  army. 

"  Turning  from  this  digression  to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  royal  stud  at 
Tutbury  in  1649,  the  next  thing  we  hear  of  it  was  when  the  House  of 


24 


GENERAL    GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS, 


Commons,  on  August  29,  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Colonel  Jones  on 
the  occasion  of  his  recent  victory  over  the  forces  of  the  Duke  of  Ormond 
in  Ireland,  coupled  with  a  pension  of  one  thousand  pounds  a  year  to 
him  'and  his  heyres  for  ever  in  Ireland;'  and  'six  of  the  best  horses  in 
Titbury  race  to  be  selected  and  sent  to  him,  as  a  gratuity  from  the 
House.'  This  draft  was  duly  selected  and  sent  to  Ireland,  and  it  is  a 
singular  fact  that  some  years  afterward?,  five  of  these  half-dozen  royal 
stud  barbs  were  acquired  by  the  Earl  of  Thomond,  by  whom  the  strain 
was  carefully  preserved,  which  doubtless  accounts  for  the  many  victories 
won  by  the  race-horses  owned  and  bred  by  the  O'Briens  in  England 
and  Ireland  after  the  Restoration,  and  on  to  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent century.  Throughout  the  autumn  of  1649  and  the  spring  of  1650, 
much  solicitude  was  evinced  by  the  Council  of  State  in  the  welfare  of 
the  Tutbury  establishment,  upon  the  choice  treasures  contained  wherein 
Oliver  Cromwell  was  casting  covetous  eyes.  Many  other  lords  and 
commoners  followed  the  Protector's  lead  in  that  respect;  so  much  so, 
that  the  Council  were  induced  to  appoint  a  committee  to  consider  how 
the  stud  '  may  be  so  disposed  that  the  breed  be  not  lost.'  This  committee 
consisted  of  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  Lords  Howard,  Lisle,  and  Grey,  Sir 
Arthur  Haselrigge,  Sir  William  Constable,  Sir  William  Armyne,  Sir  H. 
Mildmay,  Colonel  Morley,  Mr.  Bond,  and  Mr.  Scott.  They  appear  to 
have  done  nothing  except  to  dismiss  Gregory  Julian,  and  in  his  stead  to 
appoint  Major  Edward  Downes,  to  whom  the  whole  business  of  the 
stud  was  committed.  But  the  final  dispersal  now  approached  apace,  as 
on  the  2d  of  July  Cromwell  obtained  six  of  the  best  horses,  and  on  the 
following  day,  a  draft  from  the  colts  were  'chosen'  for  him.  It  is  un- 
necessary here  to  follow  all  the  incidents  of  the  dispersal,  as  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  mention  that  on  December  9,  Downes,  the  custodian,  re- 
ceived final  instructions  to  dispose  of  the  remaining  animals  at  the  best 
prices  obtainable;  but  he  was  to  allow  Lord  Grey  'to  be  furnished' 
with  whatever  lots  he  desired  without  prejudice  to  the  sale.  By  Janu- 
ary 5,  1 651,  all  the  animals  were  sold  and  distributed;  the  money  de- 
rived by  the  sale  was  handed  over  to  the  Council  of  State.  Downes 
was  paid  off  and  dismissed,  when  the  royal  stud  at  Tutbury,  founded 
by  James  I.,  and  so  well  sustained  by  his  successor,  ceased  to  exist.  It 
is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  in  many  instances  those  who  obtained 
drafts  from  the  Tutbury  stud,  and  bred  from  the  strain,  were  conspicu- 
ous in  offering  to  contribute,  in  kind,  towards  the  resuscitation  of  the 
royal  stud,  nine  years  later  on,  when  the  king  'enjoyed  his  own  again.' 
At  this  time  the  Tutbury  strain  was  distributed  over  many  parts  of 


"LEOPARD"   AND   "LINDEN  TREE," 

the   country,  and    although    there  was   no   public    racing,  unremitting 
attention   was   paid  by  those   possessing  'royal  mares'  and  '  Tutbury 
stallions'  to  preserve  the  breed  pure  and  undefiled.     But  the  most  re- 
markable, and  by  far  the  most  important,  contribution  to  Charles  II. 's 
racing  stud  was  the  magnificent  animal  above  mentioned,  which  Oliver 
Cromwell  had  obtained  from  Tutbury  in  July,  1650.     During  this  inter- 
val of  the  Lord  Protector's  sway,  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  breeders 
of  thoroughbred  stock,  first  at  Hampton  Court,  and  afterwards  at  New 
Hall  in  Essex.     In  this  interval  Cromwell  imported  many  Arabian  stal- 
lions.    His  White  Turk  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  sires  of  the 
Commonwealth.    Cromwell's  weakness  for  Arab  horses  was  well  known 
to  Mazarin,  so  much  so,  that  on  one  occasion,  when  the  crafty  cardinal 
wanted  to  circumvent  Colonel  Lockhart  (the  ambassador  of  England 
at  the  French  court),  he  overcame  the  envoy's  diplomatic  scruples  by 
presenting  him  '  with  four  exceedingly  fine  Arab  horses  for  the  saddle,' 
which  his  Excellency  pronounced  to  be  the  finest  he  ever  saw,  adding 
that  '  his  lord  and  master  would  be  mightly  pleased  with  them.'     Thus 

we  find  in  Cromwell's  stud  not  only  the  choice  animals  of  Tutbury, 

the  royal  mares,  horses,  and  colts,  and  their  descendants  which  have 
been  carefully  bred  therein  during  those  nine  years, — but  frequent  ad- 
ditions of  new  Arab  blood,  from  which  the  highest  breeding  advantages 
were  expected,  and  doubtless  attained.  At  any  rate,  the  fame  of  Crom- 
well's stud  was  well  known  to  the  merry  monarch,  as  almost  the  first 
order  he  issued  at  the  Restoration  was  that  those  horses,  '  said  to  be 
the  best  in  England,'  should  be  seized,  and  returned  to  the  royal  stud. 
The  result  of  that  order  is  well  known,  and  all  horses,  except  Coffin 
Mare,  soon  after  became  the  personal  property  of  Charles  II.,  and 
formed  the  nucleus  of  his  racing  establishment,  which  subsequently 
turned  out  so  many  winners  on  the  race-courses  of  his  kingdom  durino- 
his  remarkable  reien. 

"J.  P.  H." 


26 


GENERAL    GRANT'S  ARABIAN  STALLIONS. 


Florizel. 


L  Dam  by 


.  Dam  by.. 


Tartar- 


Partner  by  Jig  by  Byerley  Turk. 

|    Fox  (sire  Messenger's  4th  dam),  ou 


Grey  Diomed.. 


Herod.. 


L  Cygnet  Mare 


Spectator . 


Dam  by.. 


Medley 


Dam  by.. 


Bedford.. 


Meliora.. 


■{■ 


Cypron. 


•|       of  Bay  Peg  by  Lced's  Arabian. 
{  Milkmaid  by  Blackett's  Snail. 
Blaze  (4th  sire  Messenger  paternal  line),  son  of  Chil- 
ders by  Darley's  Arabian. 
Selima  by  Bethel's  Arabian. 
Cygnet  by  Godolphin  Arabian. 
T.         .  f  Cartouch  by  Bald  Galloway  by  Victor's  Barb. 

uam  Dy 1    Ebony  by  Childers  by  Darley's  Arabian. 

Crab  by  Alcock's  Arabian. 

I  P. inner  out  of  Meliora  by  Fox  (sire  Messenger's  4th 
dam),  out  of  Bay  Peg  by  Leed's  Arabian, 
f  Bay    Bolton    by   Grey    Hautboy   by 
Bonny  Lass....  -;      Hautboy  by  D'Arcy's  White  lurk. 
[    Dam  by  barley's  Arabian. 
Blank,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 
I    n         ,  (   Childers  by  Darley's  Arabian 

L  uam  Dy j  Miss  Belvoir  by  Grey  Grantham  by  Brownlow  Turk. 

Gimcrack  by  Cripple,  son  of  G»>dulphin  Ar.ibian. 

f  Snap  by  Snip,  son  of  Childers,  by  Darley's  Arabian. 
Aminda  ....     \    Mi;>s  Cleveland  by  R.gulus  (sire  Messenger's  gr.uidani) 

by  G> 'dolphin  Arabian. 
Sloe  by  Crab,  son  of  Alcock's  Arabian. 

Vampire  by  Regulus  (sire  Messenger's  grandamj  by 

Godolphin  Arabian. 
Calista. 

O'Kelley's  Eclipse,  all  Arab,  close  up. 
Aspasia,  her  dam  Dorris  by  Blank,  son  of  Godolphin 
Arabian. 
Fairy  by  Highflyer,  out  of  Fairy  Queen,  by  young  Cade  by  Cade  by 
Godolphin  Arabian. 

f  Imp    Traveller  by  Partner  (dam  by 
D     .   „  Bloody   Buttocks  Arabian)  by  Jig 

Par,ner j       by  Byerley  lurk.  J 

[   Selima  by  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Kitty  Fisher  by  Cade  by  Godolphin  Arabian. 

Regulus  (sire  Messen- 
ger's   grandam)     by 
Godolphin  Arabian. 
Silveitail,      dam      by 
Rattle,  grandam  by 
I  1 .11  ley's  Arabian. 
Dolly  Fine  by  Old  Silvereye  by  Cul- 
len's  Arabian. 
[  Dolly  Fine  by  Old  Silvereye  by  Cullen's  Arabian. 
Sampson,  son  of  Blaze  by  Flying  Childers,  out  of  Curwin  Barb  Mare 
by  Darley's  Arabian. 
I    Dam  by  Youn^  Greyhound  (grandam  Curwin   Mare  by  Bay  Barb)  by 
Arab  Greyhound. 
Cade  Mare  by  Cade,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Turf,  son  of  Matchem,  son  of  Cade  by  Godolphin  Arabian, 
f   Regulus,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 

Dam  by \  f  Starling,  son  of  Bay  Bolton,  Grey  Hautboy  by  Haut- 

[  Dam  by \       boy  by  White  Turk. 

I  By  Fox  by  Clumsy  by  Hautboy  by  White  Turk, 
English  Eclipse,  inbred  to  Arab  blood. 

Sportsmistress,  dam  Golden  Locks  by  Oronooko  by  Crab  by  Alcock's  Arabian 
Gimcrack  by  Cripple,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Claimed  to  be  Snapdragon  by  Sn3p,  inbred  to  Byerley  Turk. 


(Gimcrack  by  Cr 
Aminda \ 

(Sloe  by  Crab,  s( 
Dam  by -I 

( 
Dungannon .  -j 


Virginia. 

Cade 


Dam  by.. 


Dam  by.. 


Hickman's 
Independence 


Fearnaught.. 


Florizel. 


,  Dam  by.. 


Rockingham. 


Tabitha  . 


C  Partner  by  Jig  by  Byerley  Turk. 

f  Tartar... I  f    Fox  (sire  Messenger's  4th  dam),  out 

|_  Meliora -j       of  Bay  Peg  by  Leed's  Arabian. 

Herod \  I    Milkmaid  by  Blackett's  Snail. 

f  Blaze  (4th  sire  paternal  line  from  Messenger)  by  Chil- 
ly Cypron -I        ders  by  Darley's  Arabian. 

{[  Selima  by  Bethel's  Arabian. 
Cygnet  by  Godolphin  Arabian. 
'       .  f  Cartouch  by  Bald  Galloway  bv  Victor's  Barb. 

mm  b? 1    Ebony  by  Childers  by  Darley's  Arabian. 

f  Crab  by  Alcock's  Arabian. 

Spectator *    Partner  Mare,  dam  Bonny  Lass  by  Bay  Bolton,  grandam  by  Darley's 

[       Arabian. 
Dam  bv  Blank,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 

I  Tartar  by  Partner  (out  of  Meliora  by  Fox,  sire  of  Mes- 
sengeKS  4th  dam)  by  Jig  by  Byerley  Turk. 
Cypron  by   Blaze,  4th  sire   in   paternal  line  of  Mes- 
senger, by  Childers  by  Darley's  Arabian. 
Blank,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Daughter  of  Regulus,  sire  of  Messenger* s  grandam, 
by  Godolphin  Arabian. 
!  Matchem  by  Cade,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Squirt   Mare  by  Squirt,  son  of  Bartlett's  Childers,  Darley's  Arabian, 
and  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Sweepstakes,  inbred  to  Godolphin  Arabian. 
Miss  South  by  South,  son  of  Regulus,  sire  of  Messenger* s  grandam  by 
(_       Godolphin  Arabian. 
Dam  by  Bosphorus,  son  of  Babraham  by  Godolphin  Arabian. 


s 

s 

a 

3 


w 
w 

pq 


I    PC 

I  w 

i  £ 

o 


O    c 


a -a 

o.  o 


E  35 


"GENERAL  BEALE,"  "HEGIRA,"  AND  "ISLAM, 

STALLION  SONS  OF  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT'S  ARABIANS  "LEOPARD"  AND  "LINDEN," 


AND    THEIR    DAUGHTER 


"CLAYRABI  A," 


ALSO    GRANDDAUGHTER 


"CLAYBEALE    GRAN  T." 


Beale  is  a  o-olden  sorrel,  marked  with  a  handsome  straight  white 
stripe  in  the  face,  gray  at  the  root  of  the  tail,  a  long  white  dash  under 
the  brisket,  two  white  ankles  forward,  and  nigh  hind  white  sock.  He 
was  foaled  June  25,  1881  ;  was  got  by  Leopard  from  Mary  Sheppard, 
a  black-roan  mare  fifteen  and  one-quarter  hands  high,  by  Jack  Shep- 
pard by  Henry  Clay,  from  his  own  daughter.  Beale  is  fifteen  hands 
high. 

Hegira  is  a  coal-black,  with  faint  star  and  white  on  all  four  feet. 
He  was  got  by  Linden  from  Nell  Pixley  by  Henry  Clay ;  was  foaled 
July  9,  1882,  and  stands  fifteen  and  one-quarter  hands  high  at  three 
years  old.  Nell  Pixley,  his  dam,  was  bred  by  Supervisor  Pixley,  of 
Monroe  County,  New  York.     She  is  fifteen  and  one-half  hands  high, 


strong. 


Islam  is  a  dark  chestnut,  with  two  white  ankles  behind.  He  was 
got  by  Linden  from  Nell  Andrews  by  Red  Bird  by  Henry  Clay ;  was 
foaled  May  12,  1882,  and  stands  fifteen  hands  high  at  three  years  old. 
His  dam  is  also  a  dark  chestnut,  with  two  white  ankles  behind  and 
stripe  in  the  face  ;  and  her  dam  was  also  a  dark  chestnut  mare  inbred 
to  Morgan  blood.  The  dam  of  Islam  is  fifteen  and  one-quarter  hands 
high. 

27 


28  "GENERAL  BEALE,"    "  HEGIRA,"    "ISLAM," 

Clayrabia  is  an  iron-gray  without  white.  She  was  by  Linden  from 
Mag  Wadsworth  by  Colonel  Wadsworth  by  Henry  Clay,  from  Colonel's 
own  daughter.  Clayrabia  is  fifteen  hands  and  her  dam  fourteen  and 
one-half  hands  high.  Clayrabia  was  foaled  July  14,  1881,  and  is  much 
larger  than  her  dam. 

Claybeale  Grant  is  a  chestnut,  with  stripe  in  the  face  and  three  white 
legs,  the  nigh  one  forward  and  two  behind.  She  was  by  General  Beale, 
already  mentioned  and  described  ;  she  is  also  his  first  get.  The  dam 
of  Claybeale  Grant  is  Nell  Andrews,  who  was  also  the  dam  of  Islam 
by  Linden,  and  Islam  was  her  virgin  foal.  Claybeale  is  the  last  of  three 
foals  from  Nell,  and  is  the  largest  at  same  age  of  the  three ;  and  while 
all  three  were  perfect  and  beautiful,  this  daughter  of  General  Beale  is 
the  handsomest  foal  I  have  ever  seen,  except  General  Beale  by  Leopard, 
from  Mary  Sheppard. 

It  has  been  a  challenging  question  to  me  since  the  spring  of  18S0, 
why  I  bred  to  General  Grant's  Arabians  ? 

Now  having  told  the  reader  what  I  got,  and  a  little  of  the  dams, 
I  will  try  to  explain  my  reasons ;  also  what  governed  me  in  the  selec- 
tion of  dams  tor  the  purpose.  It  was  by  no  means  an  impulsive  move 
upon  my  part,  but  the  result  of  long-considered,  intelligent  reasoning. 

Had  I  anticipated  the  abusive  condemnation  I  was  to  draw  upon 
myself,  and  the  privations  to  be  suffered,  resulting  even  in  financial  em- 
barrassment in  the  end,  through  a  necessary  holding  of  the  stock  for 
the  purpose  of  just  estimation  of  individual  values  before  reproduc- 
tion,— in  fact,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  blood  instinct,  with  con- 
stitutional fitness  for  reproduction  in  each  individual  case, — added  to 
which  was  to  be  incessant  physical  and  mental  application,  without  one 
single  day  of  rest,  with  now  and  then  sporting-paper  attacks  upon  an 
exceedingly  sensitive  nature,  I  hardly  think  my  courage  would  have 
been  equal  to  the  undertaking  ;  nor  would  it  have  been  except  through 
faith. 

God  has  so  ordered  things  that  it  is  not  always  men  of  large  means 
who  accomplish  great  results  through  discoveries,  rediscoveries,  or  in- 
ventions ;  nor  are  improvements  in  already  adapted  and  adopted  dis- 
coveries and  inventions  made  by  such  men  ;  but  their  wealth  does 
become  the  means  through  which  they  become  recognized. 

Since  the  days  of  King  Solomon  there  is  no  record  of  men  of 
wealth  having  become  direct  instruments  in  important  scientific  or 
mechanical  progress,  because  they  could  see  no  immediate  money  re- 
turns.    There    are,   however,   occasional    instances   of  men    of  grand 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT."  2Cj 

latent  natures,  with  noble  impulses,  who,  having  concentrated  their 
energies  upon  the  getting  of  wealth,  and  finding  in  their  latter  days 
that  "all  this  was  but  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,"  and  realizing  their 
deficiencies  as  men,  have  tried  to,  in  a  measure,  atone  for  previous 
neglects  through  legacies  of  large  sums  of  money  or  property  from 
their  accumulations  to  educational  or  charitable  institutions.  Now,  the 
simple  commission  upon  distribution  of  such  donations  would,  if  given 
during  their  lifetime,  have  conduced  greatly  to  their  pleasure  and  credit, 
even  to  insuring  the  completion  of  some  great  enterprise  which  had 
failed  for  want  of  means  at  the  very  moment  when  prompt,  liberal 
assistance  would  have  caused  a  triumphant  success,  benefiting  their 
country. 

Courage  was  planted  in  man's  nature  to  enable  him  to  accomplish. 
It  is  essential  to  success  ;  but  with  courage  must  be  enthusiasm,  which 
latter  is  to  courage  what  fire  is  to  water  for  steam, — the  direct  motive- 
power. 

My  main  reason  for  breeding  to  General  Grant's  Arabs  was  the 
hope  that  something  should  grow  into  a  national  value  from  the  Arabian 
blood.  To  give  other  reasons  in  detail  necessarily  involves  reflections 
covering  a  lifetime,  hence  my  writings  will  be  tiresome  to  uninterested 
persons. 

My  prominence  through  sporting  journals  for  many  years  has  caused 
some  to  call  me  visionary  ;  these  men,  however,  were  hardly  students 
of  animal  life,  but  were  intent  listeners  at  the  battery  which  clicked  the 
changes  in  the  money  or  stock  values,  in  which  their  life  was  absorbed. 
This  class  have  called  me  enthusiastic,  forgetting  that  but  for  their  own 
enthusiasm  with  concentrated  thought  they  would  not  be  so  devoted  to 
the  one  idea  of  money-getting,  to  the  sacrifice  of  all  else,  even  to  their 
better  natures. 

My  worst  enemy  has  been  the  public  executioner,  prejudice,  who 
can  have  no  reason  why  he  should  or  should  not  kill,  but  to  kill ! 

The  people  ask,  Why  did  you  breed  to  General  Grant's  Arabs  ? 

Permit  me  to  say,  first  of  all,  that  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  Bible  his- 
tory, as  the  oldest  authentic  records  known  to  man.  This  history  dates 
in  Arabia,  where  all  created  life  was  first  named ;  and  here  the  horse 
known  to  man  has  been  called,  for  all  time,  the  Arabian  horse,  and,  as 
such,  the  one  uniformly  perfect  horse.  All  things  by  God  were  made 
perfect.  Nothing  made  by  Him  had  to  be  made  over.  Of  all  types 
of  horses,  the  Arabian  is  the  only  one  so  plastic  and  mollient  in  its 
nature,  mental  and  physical,  as  to  be  successfully  used  by  man  for  the 


30  "GENERAL  BE  ALE,"   "  HEGIRA,"    "ISLAM," 

producing  of  varieties.  No  other  type  of  horse  can  be  moulded  so 
quickly  into  other  self-sustaining  ones.  Attempts  with  other  of  man's 
created  forms  can  produce  sub-varieties,  only  as  the  one  same  plastic 
affinity  blood  of  the  Arabian  be  intensified  in  the  product,  through 
union  in  the  parents;  but  this  requires  greater  time,  with  more  uncer- 
tain results  ;  and  one  may  well  exclaim,  "  Life  is  too  short  for  the  ex- 
periment." Moreover,  through  such  subdivision  attempts  by  man  new 
disorders,  mental  and  physical,  are  caused,  through  a  violation  of  Na- 
ture's (God's)  laws.  Our  greatest  results  are  through  a  close  relation 
to  the  ever  self-sustaining,  primitive  blood,  or  positive  God-power  in  an 
original  type. 

Let  me  cite  different  types  of  horses  as  we  may  know  them  to  be  a 
result  of  man's  work  ;  keeping  in  mind  as  we  write  or  read  that  the 
executioner,  prejudice,  stands  always  ready  to  dispute  what  it  cannot 
understand,  and  to  kill ! 

Now,  refer  to  the  transcript  introduced  a  few  pages  back,  from  the 
largest  paper  of  the  kind  in  the  world,  the  London  "  Farm,  Field,  and 
Garden."  That  transcript  is  of  authentic  records,  and  by  them  we 
know  the  English  thoroughbred  race-horse  was  a  direct  product  from 
Arabian  blood,  through  repeated  resort  to  it ;  and  that  the  English 
thoroughbred  race-horse  was  not  indigenous  to  that  country,  which 
very  many  otherwise  intelligent  men  in  this  country  devoted  to  race- 
horses make  superficial  horse-fanciers  and  breeders  believe. 

Now  again,  this  English  race-horse  was  produced  to  run  races,  and 
for  no  other  purpose.  His  mental  and  physical  whole  was  rigidly 
moulded  by  man,  from  the  Arabian,  into  what  he  is  to-day ;  and  to 
ntain  these  qualities  to  their  highest  excellence,  he  is  by  law  inbred  to 
his  own  blood. 

When  at  last  he  had  become  a  self-sustaining  type,  he  was  named 
"  the  English  thoroughbred  race-horse,"  and  recognized  as  their  "  na- 
tional horse,"  devoted  exclusively  to  their  national  sport  of  running 
races ;  and  as  chance,  or  gambling,  is  one  of  the  prominent  instincts 
of  man,  this  horse  became  exclusively  a  gambling  horse  ;  hence  the 
national  sporting  laws  demanded  that  he  be  consecutively  inbred  to  his 
own  blood.  Bitt  one  blood  could  be  introduced  as  legitimate  and 
proper,  and  that  was  of  God's  horse, — the  Arabian,  or  primitive. 

When  this  English  thoroughbred  horse  was  of  no  value  to  run  races 
for  money,  it  was  necessary  to  dispose  of  him  at  some  price.  His  phys- 
ical adaptability  and  high-strung  nervous  organization  rendered  him 
unfit  for  the  yeoman,  so  he  was  put  to  stage-coach  uses;  but  here  he 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT."  ,  I 

was  unmanageable,  except  with  a  rider  upon  his  back,  and  as  his  only 
gait  was  to  run,  the  necessary  riders  were  now  termed  or  named  pos- 
tilions. 

As  the  wars  diminished  in  Europe,  and  greater  attention  was  given 
to  agriculture,  the  people  demanded  horses  fit  for  that  work  ;  hence 
draught-horses  had  to  be  produced,  but  the  thoroughbred  runnine- 
horse  could  not  be  moulded  into  adaptability  for  such  uses. 

The  first  crosses  down  from  it  were  necessarily  mongrel,  and  were 
termed  "  cock-tails"  or  "  quarter-horses."  The  next  remove  down  were 
branded  with  the  created  appellation  of  "dung-hills,"  that  they  might 
be  forever  discarded  by  the  nobility;  and  this  is  the  class  of  horses  our 
sporting-paper  writers  continually  harp  upon  as  the  only  class  of  horses 
fit  for  the  American  gentleman's  coach  or  road-wagon, — i.e.,  the  English 
nobility's  discarded  "  dung-hills."  Such  writers  certainly  cannot  know 
these  truths,  or  they  would  not  so  advocate. 

The  Arabian  blood,  I  have  said,  was  plastic  to  mould  into  any  form 
or  type.  This  people  did  not  know  ;  hence  looked  about  for  horses  to 
answer  their  purposes  for  work  whose  build  should  be  suitable,  and 
whose  temper  would  be  quiet  and  tractable.  With  mongrelization 
comes  cold  blood  and  grossness  of  flesh,  also  softness  of  bone  and 
dull  intellect.  Men  think  beef  or  crossness  of  flesh  means  strength ; 
strength  comes  with  nerve-power ;  and  as  we  improve  the  animal  in 
blood,  the  muscle  becomes  more  firm  and  hard,  the  bone  smaller,  but 
more  dense,  and  the  nerve-power  gives  greater  strength,  even  to  the 
do  or  die  qualities  desired.  No  other  horse  can  endure,  for  an  equal 
length  of  time  and  upon  low  diet,  what  the  thoroughbred  Arabian  can. 
Cromwell  and  the  "  Roundheads"  had  taken  many  Arabian  horses 
into  Scotland  to  be  bred  down,  and  from  these  came  the  Clydesdale. 
The  Flanders  horse  was  brought  into  England,  and  by  degrees  they 
bred  into  a  class  of  horses  suitable  for  the  demands  of  the  English 
people  ;  not  knowing,  however,  what  bloods  were  accountable  for  the 
animal  now  so  useful  to  them.  The  thoroughbred  run  nine-horse  lost 
its  value  to  the  masses,  becoming  a  toy  for  the  nobility,  of  great  ex- 
pense, which  only  the  very  wealthy  had  use  for;  and  that  use  was  run- 
ning races  for  a  pastime  in  their  idleness,  and  for  chance  or  gambling- 
Grades  from  the  thoroughbred  running-horse  were  less  vicious  and  ex- 
citable, so  were  adapted  to  fox-hunts  and  other  great  sport  for  the 
nobility  ;  and  from  a  still  lower  grade  was  formed  the  "  Cleveland  Bay," 
a  self-sustaining  type,  but  unable,  of  its  own  mongrelized  blood,  to 
create  other  more  valuable  horses.      This  "  Cleveland  Bay"  is  called 


32  "GENERAL  BEALE,"   " HEGIRA,"   "ISLAM," 

the  English  coach-horse,  and  there  he  stops,  as  a  non-producer  of  other 
desirable  types. 

In  France  a  few  wealthy  noblemen,  with  the  breeder's  gift,  imported 
Arabian  stallions  and  mares,  from  which  experiments  were  tried  in  a 
new  climate,  and  upon  different  soil,  with  better  and  more  abundant 
feed.  Without  knowledge,  their  efforts  were  of  no  special  results;  but 
with  experiment  came  information.  Fresh  Arabs  were  imported,  among 
them  Godolphin  Arabian  and  Gallipoli.  These  two  Arabian  stallions 
were  bred  on  to  now  native  (in  France)  Arabian  blood,  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  "once  out  and  thrice  back  to  a  primitive  blood,"  and  the 
horse  of  the  country  became  known  as  La  Perche,  later  the  Norman 
Percheron. 

Godolphin  Arabian  went  to  England  to  be  the  getter  of  the  best 
running-horses  they  had  up  to  his  day,  because  he  reinforced  his  own 
blood  ;  but  coming  through  French  ownership  as  he  did,  with  English 
national  pride,  they  for  a  time  ignored  Godolphin  Arabian,  trying  to  fix 
their  type  as  purely  "national,"  by  saying  their  own  importations  were 
the  factors,  and  their  Darley  Arabian  the  cause. 

However,  the  blood  of  Godolphin  Arabian  left  in  La  Perche  in 
sons  and  daughters,  uniting  with  affinity  blood  of  Gallipoli  in  sons  ami 
daughters  (once  out  and  thrice  back),  made  a  strong  foundation  before 
the  French  breeders  were  aware  of  it  for  their  now  beautiful  national 
horse,  the  "Percheron."  (Please  refer  to  the  French  government  sta- 
tistics gathered  and  contributed  by  the  veteran  author  Charles  Du  Hays, 
also  by  Mons.  Fardouet.) 

Intelligent  and  gifted  men  like  Du  Hays  and  Fardouet  encouraged 
close  breeding  of  the  type  now  founded,  and  the  result  of  such  close 
relationships  has  given  them  a  horse  demanded  the  world  over  where 
draught-horses  are  wanted,  while  the  demand  for  the  English  race-horse 
is  limited  to  the  sporting  fraternity,  either  of  the  nobility  or  the  lower 
grades  who  live  by  gambling. 

It  is  not  so  many  years,  after  all,  since  these  two  families  of  "  national 
horses"  were  created  and  established.  The  possibilities  in  man  are 
very  great  where  concerted  action  is  taken  ;  but,  unfortunately,  one- 
half  of  man's  life  is  spent  in  discord  and  opposition.  Every  man  has 
an  opinion,  thinking  he  knows  best;  or,  finding  he  does  not  know,  dis- 
likes to  yield  ;  and  if  he  has  an  abundance  of  means  will,  from  no 
laudable  motives,  devote  all  his  capital  with  his  energies  to  kill  the 
object  which  he  knows  will  mortify  his  pride,  especially  when  he  can 
see  and  know  that  success  is  bound  to  come  with  the  superior  man,  of 


i  < 


u 


W   I 

z 


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"CLAYRABIA"  AND   "  CLAYBEALE  GRANT."  33 

low  financial  estate,  who  has  presumed  to  know  more  than  himself. 
Ao-ain,  certain  classes  of  journalists  are  a  fearful  obstacle  to  rapid 
progress.  They  are  but  weather-cocks  of  public  opinion  ;  but,  being 
men,  are  warped  by  the  almighty  dollar,  with  neither  information  nor 
interest  at  stake  upon  success  or  failure  of  any  great  enterprise  beyond, 
as  I  have  said,  the  money  for  their  pen  and  type  to  themselves. 

I  have  said  enough  about  the  English  race-horse  to  have  shown  that 
he  is  of  Arabian  origin,  and  of  no  value  except  to  run  races.  To  breed 
him  up,  or  to  sustain  his  vitality,  no  blood  can  be  introduced  but  his  own 
primitive  blood  of  the  Arabian.  To  breed  him  down,  makes  the  English 
nobility's  "dung-hill,"  or  American  gentleman's  road-  and  coach-horse, 
for  such  as  like  to  ride  behind  them. 

I  have  abundantly  shown  that  both  the  English  race-horse  and  the 
French  Percheron  were  created  by  man  from  the  God  horse,  or  Arabian. 
It  is  no  sacrilege  to  say  God's  horse,  for  He  made  the  Arabian,  from 
which  man  made  the  mongrels. 

Let  us  now  go  to  Russia  and  inquire  into  their  national  horse. 
It  is  called  the  "  Russian  Orloff  trotting-horse."  This  horse  should  be 
an  argument  for  the  American  people.  Russia,  like  America,  is  a  vast 
territory,  and  has  use  for  general  purpose  horses  such  as  have  speed 
at  the  trotting  gait  and  can  endure  for  long  distances.  They,  too,  as 
a  people,  wanted  what  they  had  not  got  for  work  purposes,  and  particu- 
larly the  road.  They  tried  the  English  running-horse,  only  to  prove 
to  themselves,  as  have  we,  that  he  was  of  no  good  except  to  run 
races. 

It  seems  unfortunate  that  individuals  should  be  called  upon  to  fight, 
single-handed,  battles  for  important  improvements  through  rediscov- 
eries or  inventions,  but  that  is  God's  will. 

To  Count  Alexis  Orloff  is  due  the  Russian  trotting-horse  bearing 
his  name.  The  count  imported  an  Arabian  stallion,  and  by  him  created 
a  type,  through  in-and-in  breeding  after  his  first  out-cross.  Do  not 
understand  by  first  out-cross  as  one  single  get,  but  from  selections  from 
all  the  get  by  one  horse  out  of  differently  bred  mares.  Thus,  Count 
Orloff  used  Danish  mares  of  low  type  and  English  running  mares,  that 
blood  being  at  that  time  strongly  the  affinity  or  Arabian  blood. 

At  the  time  of  Count  Orloff' s  death  he  had  a  family  of  thorough- 
bred trotting-bred  horses,  which  the  people  had  learned  to  value  so 
highly  that  the  government  purchased  the  entire  collection  late  in  the 
forties,  or  in  1845. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  count's  death  he  would  sell  no  stallion,  feeling 

5 


-,,  "GENERAL  BEALE"    "  HEGIRA,"    "ISLAM," 

that  in  order  to  create  the  type  pure  and  to  be  recognized  as  strictly 
thoroughbred  it  must  be  under  one  man's  control,  or  until  so  numerous 
and  fixed  in  its  type  as  to  remain  so.  In  that  particular  I  can  sympa- 
thize with  Count  Orloff.  I  will  here  speak  of  my  individual  self  in  my 
attempts.  Men  knowing  the  burden  I  was  financially  carrying,  and 
desiring  to  help  me  without  putting  their  hands  into  their  own  pockets, 
would  urge  me  to  sell,  bringing  friends  to  buy  the  very  choicest  of  my 
stock,  which  had  just  reached  an  age  ior  reproduction,  and  which,  being 
close  bred  to  purification,  were  my  life  in  the  enterprise.  Such  gentle- 
men, while  they  intended  well,  would  ruin  me  through  an  uninformed 
attempt  to  assist,  or  become  angry  because  I  would  not  destroy,  as  they 
suggested,  through  sale. 

After  the  imperial  government  of  Russia  had  purchased  the  Count 
Orloff  family, — now  sufficiently  numerous  to  produce  liberally, — they 
continued  to  hold  annual  sales  of  young  or  surplus  stock,  the  govern- 
ment being  surety  for  purity  in  blood  and  breeding. 

For  interesting  information  upon  this  question  I  refer  the  reader  to 
Mr.  A.  J.  Rousseau's  publication  upon  the  methods  pursued  by  Count 
Orloff  in  breeding  and  founding  this  justly-celebrated  "national  trot- 
ting-, road-,  and  coach-horse."  This  horse  is  so  bred,  and  is  so  intensely 
Arabian,  that,  like  imported  Messenger  (which  was  three  times  inbred 
to  the  Godolphin  Arabian),  it  will  cross  with  any  class  of  horses,  im- 
proving the  family  it  is  crossed  upon. 

The  Orloff  is  himself  a  superior  coach-horse,  an  untiring  stage- 
horse,  and  a  whirlwind  of  trotting  speed  for  road  or  sporting  purposes. 

During  our  Grand  Central  Circuit  Meeting  (trotting),  a  few  years 
since,  some,  then  recently  imported,  Orloff  stallions  were  exhibited 
upon  the  track  here  at  Rochester,  New  York.  I  examined  them  care- 
fully in  the  boxes,  and  found  them  the  counterpart  of  old  Andrew 
Jackson  and  his  best  son,  Henry  Clay.  In  physical  conformation  they 
were  identical  with  the  get  of  Jackson  and  Clay,  also  in  color  and  dis- 
position. When  shown  at  speed  upon  our  track,  I  heard  many  farmers 
remark  that  it  was  a  fraud  to  show  them  as  Russian  horses,  for  they 
were  only  Clays  ! 

I  have  now  introduced  the  reader  to  three  typical  "  national  horses," 
each  one  representing  a  nation  independent  and  powerful  in  resources 
and  wealth,  also  advanced  in  the  arts  and  sciences  from  cultured  and 
refined  civilization.  Each  nation  had  resorted  to  the  Arabian  horse 
from  which  to  create ;  and,  with  national  pride  or  independence,  no  one 
had  obtained  his  foundation  from  the  mongrelizations  of  the  other,  but 


"  CLA  YRABIA,"   AND   "  CLA  YBEALE   GRANT.' 


35 


had  taken  the  primitive  God-made  animal,  that  all  honor  and  glory- 
should  come  to  Him,  the  eternal  ruler  of  the  universe. 

Ward's  Science  Shops,  at  Rochester,  New  York,  hold  a  front  place 
before  all  the  scientific  world.  They  are  near  me,  and  I  often  resort 
to  them  for  study.  One  old  man,  Professor  Ballay  (a  Frenchman),  has 
for  fifty  years  been  handling  bones  as  an  osteologist ;  indeed,  we  may 
say,  he  has  lived  among  the  skeletons  of  the  animal  kingdom  since  a 
boy,  passing  through  the  first  shops  and  schools  in  Germany,  France, 
and  England  to  these  of  Professor  Henry  A.  Ward,  of  Rochester. 

From  him  I  learned  much.  His  familiarity  with  the  bony  anatomy 
of  the  animal  kingdom  was  such  that  at  sight  he  could  tell  almost  any 
bone  handed  to  him,  to  what  animal  or  species  of  animal,  and  in  what 
part  of  the  frame,  it  belonged. 

My  library  took  in  Darwin,  Huxley,  Proctor,  and  Tyndall,  all  of 
whom  I  had  studied,  but  had  put  to  one  side  as  of  very  highly-cultured 
imaginations.  The  facts  of  life,  of  death,  or  creation,  they  failed  to 
reach. 

Old  Ballay  was  quite  profane  at  times,  so  I  asked  him  one  day  if 
he  believed  there  was  a  God.  "  Most  certainly  !"  he  replied.  "  Do  you 
believe  in  the  teachings  of  the  Bible?"  I  asked  him.  "Yes,  sir;  I  do," 
was  his  answer.  I  now  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  Darwin,  Huxley, 
and  Proctor.  "  Well,"  he  answered,  "  I  think  Mr.  Darwin  fancied  he  was 
a  great  man  when  he  was  young,  but  as  he  grew  older,  and  found 
what  a  fool  he  had  been  in  much  of  his  writings,  he  thought  he  would 
go  on  and  see  how  many  and  how  great  fools  he  could  make  of  other 
men."  Of  evolution,  the  old  man  said,  it  could  never  stop.  "If  animal 
life  owed  its  varieties  to  evolution,  changes  would  be  continuous  ;  but 
here  I  have  been  dissecting  and  mounting  skeletons  for  fifty  years,  and 
have  seen  skeletons  that  were  a  thousand  years  old,  and  every  time  the 
bones  were  the  same  in  the  different  animals  to  which  they  belonged. 
The  same  was  the  case  in  the  human  skeleton.  If  anything  in  life  was 
of  spontaneous  growth,  it  would  continue  to  change;  if  the  different 
families  were  results  of  crosses  out  of  positive  families,  sporting  back 
to  one  or  the  other  of  original  types  would  be  a  necessary  result,  and 
the  bony  anatomy  would  first  detect  the  started  change,  if  there  were 
any  in  struchire.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  ever  the  same  over  and  over 
again,  just  as  God  first  made  it.  Then  again,  abrupt  crosses  produced 
life,  but  the  new  life  being  a  violation  of  God's  laws  could  not  repro- 
duce itself."  Ballay's  workshop  had  been  with  the  dead,  but  his 
thoughts  had  been  of  life. 


^5  "GENERAL  BEALE,"   "  HEGIRA"    "ISLAM," 

Of  domestic  families  he  spoke  of  the  high  type  and  the  low.  The 
bones  in  each  told  of  the  blood  and  breeding  of  the  animal.  The  high 
types  were  nearest  to  God's  creation,  but  the  low  types  of  mongreliza- 
tion  spoke  of  man's  ignorance,  were  soft  and  porous. 

The  more  the  animal  was  mongrelized  the  softer  and  more  porous 
the  bones  became,  also  larger  than  in  the  foundation  type.  Mr.  Ballay 
was  no  horseman,  nor  was  he  in  any  way  interested  in  them,  nor  did  he 
know  of  the  different  names  of  horses  ;  but  he  cited  the  two  skeletons 
he  had  mounted  for  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington.  One 
was  of  the  thoroughbred  Lexington,  the  other  of  Old  Henry  Clay.  The 
first  had  been  removed  from  the  flesh,  not  subject  to  decomposition  ; 
the  latter,  of  Old  Henry  Clay,  had  been  subject  to  fourteen  years'  burial 
in  the  ground.  He  had  cleaned,  prepared,  and  mounted  both,  and  pro- 
nounced those  of  Henry  Clay  as  from  the  best-bred  animal,  being  finer, 
more  dense,  and  of  an  elastic  character  peculiar  to  the  highest  bred 
animal.  Those  of  Lexington  were  dense  but  brittle,  showing  inferior 
blood  and  breeding.  When  I  introduce  the  Arabian  origin  of  Old 
Henry  Clay,  I  will  let  the  intelligent  student  reason  it  out.  Self-teaching 
is  the  most  effective.  I  am  a  self-convicted  believer  in  the  Bible  and  in 
God,  as  I  also  know  Mr.  Henry  M.  Stanley  to  have  been.  The  more 
I  studied  into  animal  life,  the  more  I  became  interested  in  Bible  history, 
seeking  it  for  information  I  could  nowhere  else  obtain.  The  deeper  I 
went,  the  more  insignificant  the  scientific  works  I  possessed  (treating 
upon  such  subjects)  became. 

I  have  told  the  reader  a  little  of  what  I  knew  of  the  breedings  from 
the  Arabian  horse  by  other  civilized  countries,  and  what  they  got;  now 
it  has  seemed  to  me  that  we,  as  a  young  country,  should  learn  from  the 
old  and  more  experienced.  They  have  proved  what  can  and  what 
cannot  be  done.  I  was  always  ready  to  listen  to  the  old  that  I  might 
learn  from  their  experience,  and  improve  if  possible  upon  them.  Now 
that  I  am  old,  who  of  the  young  will  take  up  where  I  leave  off? 

America  is  a  young  country,  and  far  from  being  as  old  as  were  these 
three  great  countries  named,  before  they  settled  upon  the  different  types 
of  horses  now  recognized  as  their  national  horse  ;  moreover,  no  one  of 
these  countries  found  within  themselves  the  blood  from  which  to  create 
these  types  ;  but  each  one  went  to  Egypt  or  Arabia  for  the  primitive 
horse,  for  on  no  other  spot  upon  the  face  of  the  globe  could  it  be  found, 
except  the  country  where  God's  word  had  been  given  to  man,  and  at 
which  place  names  were  given  to  all  created  animal  life. 

Why  was  it  that  these  three  great  nations  went  to  Arabia  for  this 


"  CLAYRABTA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT."  «j 

horse  from  which  to  create  new  types  ?  If  Mr.  Darwin  were  alive,  I 
wonder  if  he  could  explain  this  question  better  than  does  Bible  history? 
From  no  other  horse  could  these  three  families  be  produced,  nor  can 
either  of  them  produce  other  new,  desirable,  self-sustaining  types. 

As  I  have  said,  the  reader  must  now  become  his  own  teacher,  and 
if  he  be  a  deep  thinker  and  condensed  reasoner,  he  will  grow  strong  in 
his  opinions. 

Again  for  our  own  country, — America  !  We  found  wild  horses 
here  called  Indian  ponies.  Could  we  create  anything  from  them?  No; 
we  imported  from  our  mother-country,  and  from  Arabia  and  Egypt, 
Persia  and  Turkey,  as  well  as  France  and  England,  over  fifty  Arabian 
and  barb  stallions.  Beside  these,  there  were  brought  a  great  many 
English  thoroughbred  running-horses,  close  to  the  Arabian  blood. 

This  was  between  1760  and  1835,  since  when,  or  from  1835  up  to 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1861,  we  had  at  intervals  quite  a  number 
more ;  so  that  with  the  beginning  of  the  war  no  country  had  such 
uniformly  good  horses  as  America ;  and  yet,  we  as  a  people  paid  no 
attention  to  their  breeding.  For  years  "  two-forty  down  the  plank" 
was  in  every  boy's  mouth,  for  all  our  horses  trotted,  and  the  best  of 
coach-horses  were  plenty  and  cheap. 

The  trotting-tracks  had  not  been  recognized  as  an  institution  to  be 
sustained  and  supported  by  fashionable  wealth.  Our  vehicles  were 
heavy,  and  harness  more  so.  The  shoeing  of  our  horses  was  primi- 
tive ;  and  when  I  look  at  the  big,  coarse,  heavy  shoes  of  Old  Henry 
Clay,  as  compared  with  the  delicately-finished  shoe  of  to-day,  and  those 
spikes  for  nails  by  the  side  of  the  little  finished  Putnam  nail,  I  ask 
what  made  our  old-time  horses  trot  so  fast  and  endure  so  much  with- 
out training  or  condition.  The  reply  comes,  "  Blood  and  breeding." 
What  blood?  The  Arabian,  which  had  permeated  the  blood  of  most 
of  our  horses  in  our  new  and  then  almost  unextended  civilization. 
Our  horses  were  centred  in  the  Eastern  States,  where  the  Arabian 
blood  of  Messenger  was  well  diffused,  and  frequently  reinforced  by 
primitive  blood  from  the  occasionally  imported  Arabian  ;  yet  none  of 
these  Arabian  horses  had  been  used  to  any  extent  except  in  New  Eng- 
land, New  York  State,  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Kentucky  ; 
still,  all  were  used,  and  "  blood  would  tell." 

In  New  England  they  had  Arabian  blood  direct,  in  their  Morgan 
horse ;  also  more  or  less  Messenger  descendants,  so  that  New  England 
and  New  York  State  were  famous  for  good  horses. 

Our  dreadful  war  began  in  the  spring  of  1861,  calling  for  large 


,3  "GENERAL   BEALE"   "  HEGTRA,"    "ISLAM," 

numbers  of  horses.  The  cause  was  one  that  interested  every  man,  so 
that  if  he  could  not  give  himself,  he  gave  of  horses  the  best  he  had. 
Many  and  many  were  the  horses  I  saw  given  by  the  farmers  in  this 
country  for  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  dollars,  which  six  months  be- 
fore they  would  have  refused  to  sell  to  me  for  three  hundred  dollars, 
as  to  a  horse-dealer  for  market ;  but  they  gave  cheerfully  at  any  price 
named  by  the  government,  thinking  to  help  the  country. 

Up  to  this  period  our  importations  had  been  very  limited;  re- 
stricted almost  to  thoroughbred  race-horses,  with  at  great  intervals 
an  Arabian  or  two.  The  race-horses  were  to  reinforce  Kentucky's 
thoroughbreds,  while  Arabians  were  usually  presents  to  our  Presidents 
from  the  Egyptian  or  Turkish  empires. 

Our  war  increased  in  magnitude,  and  horses  became  scarce.  Resort 
was  had  to  Canada ;  we  also  brought  from  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  the 
far  West,  large  numbers  of  mustangs ;  indeed  anything  that  would  wear 
a  harness  and  draw  a  plough  or  a  load,  was  pressed  into  service.  Many 
farmers  exchanged  works,  thus  making  one  or  two  pairs  of  horses  do 
the  labor  upon  three  farms.  In  1864  an  uncle  of  my  wife  (Mr.  John 
W.  Taylor,  of  East  Bloomfield,  Ontario  County,  New  York,  who  bought 
the  third  colt  from  Flora  Temple's  dam  for  the  late  R.  A.  Alexander, 
of  Kentucky),  who  was  himself  suffering  for  horses  upon  his  farm, 
went  to  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  bringing  home  one  hundred  and  forty 
head  of  mustang-horses  of  all  ages.  They  were  stallions  and  mares, 
unbroken  ;  but  as  I  have  said,  horses  were  so  scarce  that  anything 
would  do,  and  these  one  hundred  and  forty  head  of  mustangs  were 
soon  scattered  among  the  farmers  in  the  count),  valued  at. that  time, 
but  cursed  in  memory  to-day,  both  in  themselves  and  produce,  for  all 
were  bred  that  would  breed.  Now  it  is  twenty  years  past,  and  why 
has  not  the  produce  proved  other  than  a  waste  of  time  and  money 
through  breeding  it?  The  Canada  mares  had  been  so  mongrelized  by 
all  grades  of  horses — the  English  thoroughbred,  the  English  shire  or 
draught-horse,  the  Clyde  and  half-bred  Percherons — that  such  mares 
as  came  from  Canada  and  were  bred,  proved  but  a  trifle  better  than 
the  mustangs  as  producers  ;  of  course,  Canada  did  not  sell  us  her  best. 

Capital,  always  looking  for  investments,  saw  money  in  the  importing 
of  good  work-horses  ;  so  the  thoroughbred  Percheron  draught-horse 
and  the  Scotch  Clyde  were  brought  in  by  sample  lots.  To-day,  the 
importation  of  these  horses  is  considered  one  of  the  most  profitable 
investments  by  the  importer;  but  is  it  treating  our  agriculturists 
fairly?     Is  it  justice  to  our  farmers,  burdened  as  we  are  with  our  war- 


••  CLAYRABJA"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT.'-  39 

debt?  Every  reader  knows  that  we  are  one  of  the  greatest  grass 
lands  in  the  world,  and  that  the  area  in  which  these  imported  horses 
are  crown  would  not  make  the  extent  of  grass  land  comprised  in  any 
one  of  our  forty  States  and  Territories.  If  our  sporting  and  agricul- 
tural papers  had  given  themselves  to  instructing  their  readers  during 
the  past  twenty  years,  we  could  have  created,  grown,  and  established 
a  national  horse  of  our  own,  equal  if  not  superior  to  anything  we 
now  import,  and  would  be  able  to  sell  the  same  animals  to  any  part 
of  Europe  for  one-half  of  what  we  now  pay  for  them,  besides  making 
all  the  profit  from  our  grass  lands  by  such  raising,  which  we  now  pay 
out  to  Europe  in  hard  dollars. 

Another  disadvantage  we  have  labored  under:  a  sporting  nature 
had  grown  and  been  cultivated  by  our  young  men  during  the  war, 
which  settled  largely  on  trotting-horses.  The  demand  for  trotters  was 
o-reat,  with  prospective  large  returns  from  their  breeding.  Hundreds 
of  gentlemen  of  means,  but  in  every  other  way  unfitted,  purchased 
land  and  began  the  breeding  of  horses. 

Brood  stock  was  selected  by  prejudice  or  fancy,  without  cultured 
ability  for  understanding!}'  investigating  the  reputed  breedings,  through 
which  to  rate  blood  influences  for  desired  results.  In  short,  the  name 
was  the  governing  power,  blood  and  breeding  being  of  minor  impor- 
tance. 

Horses  of  all  classes  were  exceedingly  scarce,  and  the  demand  was 
so  great  that  venturers  in  breeding,  in  haste  to  get  rich,  thought  more 
of  prospective  large  money  returns  from  their  investments  than  of 
future  advantages  to  the  country  through  improved  blood  values. 
Prejudice  swayed  the  breeding  and  buying  public,  so  that  after  twenty- 
five  years  of  unparalleled  production  of  horses,  as  to  numbers,  we  find 
the  country  flooded  with  mongrels,  scarce  worth  the  raising,  and  from 
which  we  are  unable  to  select  a  reliable,  self-sustaining,  reproducing  type. 

Our  constant  importation  of  stockdiorses  from  France,  Scotland, 
England,  and  even  German-Prussia,  has  not  mended  matters,  but  has 
still  further  mongrelized  our  bloods,  because  we  have  used  them  for 
crosses,  rather  than  in  breeding  each  type  to  itself. 

If  the  different  horses  we  continue  to  import  have  special  merit  to 
warrant  such  importations,  why  not  breed  them  pure;  then  with  our 
superior  advantages  in  soil  and  climate,  eclipse  our  cis-Atlantic  neigh- 
bors in  the  growing  of  their  own  types?  Poor  America!  When  will 
she  arise  to  the  privilege  and  dignity  of  breeding  her  own  national 
horse  ? 


40  "  GENERAL  BEALE,"    "  HEGIRA,"    "  ISLAM," 

Journal  advocates  of  a  name,  seeing  the  mistake  they  had  made  in 
so  strongly  sympathizing  with  public  prejudice  in  favor  of  that  name, 
now  began  to  print  "cross  and  out-cross,"  which  was  soon  taken  up 
by  the  people,  who  wanted  to  know  what  they  should  "  cross  and  out- 
cross"  with  ?  This  was  soon  fixed  for  another  deal,  and  the  theory  of 
thoroughbred  runnino-horse  blood  was  blazoned  on  the  "out-cross" 
banner.  By  using  it,  the  broken-down  race-horse  stallions,  also  weeds 
from  that  type,  would  be  got  rid  of  among  the  unsuspecting  yeomanry, 
only  however  to  entail  another  drawback  to  successful  breeding  of  a 
"  national  horse ;"  and  thus  the  attempt  by  a  single  individual  for  good 
general  results,  became  a  most  stupendous  undertaking.  However, 
my  faith  was  great,  for  I  did  know ;  and  the  resolve  being  made,  I  did 
begin;  believing  there  were  plenty  of  men  in  the  country  who  would 
co-operate  with  me  in  this  attempt. 

Kentucky  had  a  great  prestige  in  her  brood  mares,  and  sporting 
journals  harped  the  string,  "cross  and  out-cross,"  urging  the  use  of 
broken-down  thoroughbred  running-horses  as  stallions. 

That  others  valued  Arabian  blood  as  I  did  was  evident  from  occa- 
sional importations  of  it;  but  in  no  case  can  I  remember  their  use 
being  credited.  From  1840  to  i860  I  knew  of  quite  a  number  so  im- 
ported, two  standing  at  Boston,  three  in  New  Jersey,  three"  in  Mary- 
land, two  in  Virginia,  and  four  in  Kentucky. 

From  the  first,  Arabian  stallions  worked  into  Kentucky,  where  they 
were  used  upon  race-horse  mares.  Latterly,  Mokhladi,  Massaud,  and 
Sacklowie,  imported  by  the  late  A.  Keene  Richards  into  Kentucky, 
did  more  or  less  business  upon  all  kinds  of  dams,  as  well  as  thorough- 
bred running-breds.  I  am  willing  to  believe  the  public  did  not  know, 
in  truth,  the  value  of  Arabian  blood  in  the  coach-,  road-,  and  trotting- 
horse  as  well  as  race-horse. 

When,  however,  credit  is  given  to  Kentucky  for  superior  blood  in 
her  brood  mares  over  any  other  State,  and  that  superiority  is  credited 
to  her  thorough  running-horse  blood,  which  in  an  earlier  day  was  the 
only  type  of  horses  she  bred,  we  are  inclined  to  look  for  a  more  direct 
cause.  In  doing  so,  we  find  that  for  forty  years  their  dams  have  been 
under  the  influence  of  Arabian  blood  ;  no  less  than  five  different 
Arabian  stallions  having  been  imported  directly  into  Kentucky  since 
1850.  While  these  horses  were  obtained  expressly  to  reinforce  their 
running-horse  blood,  when  they  found  it  more  important  to  breed  gen- 
eral-purpose horses  (as  coach-,  road-,  trotting-horses  and  workers),  they 
had  the  all-important  Arabian  blood  to  help  them,  whether  to  strengthen 


"  CLA  YRABlAr   AND   "  CLA  YBEALE   GRANT: 


41 


running  or  colder-bred  mares.  Now,  in  so  writing  of  Kentucky,  I  will 
cite  one  single  instance — of  which  I  have  many — showing  the  direct 
and  positive  value  of  Arabian  blood  in  the  coach-  and  trotting-horse. 
In  1854,  Mr.  L.  L.  Dorsey,  of  Kentucky,  bred  a  daughter  of  the  im- 
ported Arabian  Zilcaadie  to  a  little  inbred  Morgan  horse  called  Ver- 
mont Morgan.  The  get  and  produce  was  called  Golddust,  from  his 
golden  color.  This  colt,  foaled  in  1855,  was  bred  upon  the  principle 
of  once  out  and  thrice  back  to  a  primitive  blood,  for  Justin  Morgan 
was  Arabian-bred. 

The  horse  Vermont  Morgan  was  but  fourteen  and  three-quarters 
hands  high,  and  was  inbred  to  Justin  Morgan's  blood.  Now,  when 
he  is  put  to  the  daughter  of  imported  Zilcaadie,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  stallion  colts  known  in  this  country  was  the  result;  I  mean 
L.  L.  Dorsey's  stallion  Golddust.  He  grew  to  be  sixteen  hands  high, 
weighing  very  nearly  thirteen  hundred  pounds,  and  for  trotting  speed 
was  the  peer  of  anything  before  bred  in  Kentucky.  "  He  was  trotted 
many  races,  never  being  beaten  ;  one  of  them  was  a  match  race  for 
ten  thousand  dollars,  which  he  won  by  over  a  distance." 

As  a  getter,  Golddust  was  the  most  positive  sire  for  beauty,  size, 
and  wonderful  trotting  speed  in  his  colts,  calling  to  mind  Andrew  Jack- 
son, similarly  bred,  also  imported  Messenger  of  similar  breeding.  It 
makes  me  nearly  wild  as  I  write,  that  I  cannot  induce  men  to  put  away 
prejudice  and  use  reason.  I  do  not  wish  the  reader  to  obey  my  teach- 
ings, but  would  beg  of  every  man  interested  in  the  breeding  of  horses 
to  think  deep,  embracing  every  opportunity  to  enlighten  himself.  We 
have  already  too  many  writers  who  demand  their  readers  to  do  as 
they  say  in  print ;  I  simply  urge  men  to  be  better  informed  of  them- 
selves. 

Such  a  crop  of  colts  as  were  the  first  get  by  Mr.  Dorsey's  Arabian- 
bred  horse  had  no  parallel  in  the  breeding  of  beautiful  coach-,  road-, 
and  trotting-horses,  except  in  the  get  of  imported  Messenger,  Andrew 
Jackson,  and  his  son  Henry  Clay,  all  three  being  similarly  bred  to 
Arabian  blood  influence.  Moreover,  these  sons  and  daughters  of  Dor- 
sey's old  Golddust  had  the  same  high  nervous  temperament  possessed 
by  the  get  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  Henry  Clay,  also  credited  to  the 
get  of  imported  Messenger. 

If  I  write  too  much,  men  will  not  read ;  if  I  say  too  little,  they  will 
not  understand.  Men  never  trouble  themselves  to  condemn  and  abuse 
what  is  of  no  value,  or  what  they  fully  understand;  but  will  bring  all 
their  forces  in  wealth   and  prejudice  to  destroy  what  beats  them   or 

6 


42  "GENERAL   BEALE,"    "  HEGIRA,"    -ISLAM;' 

stands  in  their  way,  not  stopping  to  study  into  the  values  of  the 
obstacles. 

I  have  been  charged  with  being  over-enthusiastic  in  the  matter  of 
Arabian  blood,  called  by  us  Clay.  Now,  I  never  began  to  contend  for 
it  as  did  Mr.  Weaver  of  Philadelphia,  or  Mr.  Dorsey  of  Kentucky,  for 
each  of  these  gentlemen  contended  for  their  individual  horse.  My  con- 
tention has  been  for  the  blood,  pro  bono  publico;  and  even  in  that  par- 
ticular I  was  misjudged  by  friends,  who  would  ask  me  "if  it  was  glory" 
I  was  after.     Far  from  it. 

In  the  matter  of  Golddust,  the  war  broke  out,  and  his  possibilities 
for  Kentucky  and  the  country  at  large  were  cut  short.  I  remember  a 
lot  of  horses  and  mares  by  Golddust,  which  Mr.  Dorsey  sent  on  to 
Long  Island  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  They  were  in  a  large  barn 
near  John  I.  Sneidicker's  place,  near  the  old  Union  track.  I  examined 
them  many  times,  and  will  say  that  to-day,  such  good  horses  are  rare. 
After  the  war,  attempts  to  establish  Golddust  were  frustrated  from  two 
causes:  first  was  owing  to  the  multitude  of  coarse  horses,  more  fash- 
ionable in  the  name,  and  second  was  the  mistaken  idea  of  improving 
the  blood  of  Golddust  through  infusion  of  the  blood  of  the  rigid  run- 
ning-horse with  its  instinct.  Had  Mr.  Dorsey  selected  inbred  Morgan 
and  high-type  Clay  mares  for  his  horse  he  would  by  this  time  have 
created  a  "  national  coach-,  road-,  and  trotting-horse"  without  equal  in 
the  world.  The  same  could  have  been  accomplished  with  Messenger, 
or  with  Young  Bashaw,  or  Andrew  Jackson,  or  Henry  Clay.  The 
opportunities  for  a  "national  horse"  have  presented  themselves,  but 
have  not  been  embraced  because  of  want  of  intelligent  application  to 
the  object  upon  the  part  of  gentlemen  of  means.  General  William  T. 
Withers,  of  Kentucky,  is  now  working  towards  such  a  base.  I  know 
him  to  be  creating  a  superior  maternal  foundation,  but  whether  he  will 
introduce  the  right  form  of  blood  in  the  male,  remains  to  be  seen. 

Naturally,  he  will  feel  pride  in  establishing  his  breed  through  his 
Almont;  and  while  Almont  did  possess  largely  ot  Arabian  blood 
through  Andrew  Jackson  and  Pilot,  and  the  maternal  foundation  will 
be  solid  through  "Clay"  and  Keene  Richards's  Arab  mares,  his  results 
would  be  more  uniform  and  every  way  more  satisfactory,  were  he  to 
make  the  king  of  his  haras  a  direct  descendant  of  a  high-type  Arabian 
stallion,  through  a  Morgan,  Jackson,  or  a  Clay  mare  ;  but  small  mistakes 
by  the  individual  have  disappointed  more  than  one  Napoleonic  attempt. 
The  General  remembers  that  by  the  male  are  the  names  given  ;  and 
that  rich  mother-earth  grows  poor  seed  into  prominence.     Such  seed, 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   -  CLAYBEALE  GRANT."  43 

however,  must  be  sustained  by  always  rich  mother-earth,  for  renewed 
vitality.  God's  laws  are  perfect ;  man  cannot  improve  upon  them. 
Atavism,  or  sporting  back,  is  more  apt  to  come  through  the  blood  influ- 
ence of  the  clam  than  of  the  sire.     I  will  soon  speak  particularly  of  that. 

But  why  did  I  breed  to  General  Grant's  Arabs,  you  ask? 

When  I  have  asked  a  man  why  he  bred  a  mustang,  his  reply  was, 
For  fun  !     Was  there  any  sense  in  the  act  or  in  the  reply? 

To  this  time  I  have  been  placing  the  argument  so  that  reason  within 
the  reader  would  answer  the  question. 

When  William  H.  Seward's  Arabians  arrived  in  i860  (now  twenty- 
five  years  ago),  I  had  quite  a  little  information  upon  blood  and  breeding 
of  horses, — more,  indeed,  than  some  men  ever  will  have  ;  but  as  it  is 
very  unprofitable  information,  I  trust  all  young  men  will  not  be  so  foolish 
as  I  have  been.  However,  I  was  in  the  boat,  so  had  to  keep  paddling 
and  stopping  the  leaks  at  the  same  time ;  and  here  I  am  to-day,  barely 
afloat:   I  know,  however,  there  is  a  safe  harbor  for  me  at  the  end. 

We  learn  of  great  facts  through  deep  problems,  slowly.  It  takes 
time.     Thorough  investigations  are  very  difficult. 

From  1820  to  i860  I  believed  I  had  made  a  careful  inquiry  and 
investigation  into  such  Arabian  stallions,  with  results,  as  had  been 
imported  to  America  to  the  elate  of  arrival  of  the  late  Mr.  Seward's 
horses  ;   but  the  war  was  under  way,  stopping,  for  the  time,  all  else. 

Later,  as  a  dealer  and  still  experimental  breeder,  the  question  of 
Secretary  Seward's  Arabian  horses  came  up,  and  my  search  for  them 
proved  like  most  others  of  the  kind :  they  had  been  thrown  away. 
What  was  left  to  show  for  them  was  being  credited  to  "  time-standard 
bred  horses  ;"  thus,  the  two  best  colts  to  date  by  one  celebrated  "  time- 
standard"  bred  horse,  are  from  a  granddaughter  of  the  only  son  of  one 
of  Seward's  Arabian  horses,  out  of  a  granddaughter  of  Old  Henry  Clay  ; 
which  facts  are  not  known,  so  the  time-standard  bred  horse  gets  all 
credit  for  the  two  mares  got  by  him. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  General  Grant's  Arabians  I  could 
find  no  record  of  the  attempts  by  any  man  or  men  to  create,  with  intent 
and  purpose,  any  specialty  from  the  Arabian  horse,  while  my  investiga- 
tions warranted  an  effort,  as  my  writings  have  shown. 

Russia  and  America  demand  coach-,  stage-,  and  road-horses  to  a 
greater  extent  than  any  other  nation  ;  and  they  must  be  of  a  class 
adapted  to  general-purpose  uses. 

Russia  has  created  and  established  her  national  horse  upon  that 
base  of  trotting  instinct,  and  I  have  shown  she  did  it  upon  the  same 


44  "GENERAL  BEALE,"   "  HEGIRA,"   "ISLAM," 

Arabian  blood  used  by  England  and  France  for  their  separate,  distinc- 
tive national  horses. 

I  have  also  shown  that  our  most  positive  and  valuable  horses  for  the 
road  or  sporting  uses,  were  the  more  closely  related  to  Arabian  blood. 

One  of  our  drawbacks  from  progress  as  a  nation  in  all  scientific 
studies  is  the  want  of  means  by  the  individual,  and  the  pellmell  rush  of 
every  man  to  get  rich.  Money,  money,  money,  is  the  tocsin  for  every 
lad,  or  man  ;  or,  "  Is  there  any  money  it  ?"  "  Is  there  any  money  in  it  ?" 
Our  country  is  too  fast;  the  corners  of  the  fences  are  not  cultivated, 
when  in  them  are  acres  of  the  richest  land. 

"  Haste  is  waste."  I  was  prepared  for  the  arrival  of  General  Grant's 
Arabs.  I  believed,  as  will  any  American,  that  they  must  be  of  the 
highest  possible  type.  No  empire  or  nation  would  insult  itself  by  pre- 
senting to  so  great  a  man,  also  the  one  representative  man  of  so  great 
a  nation  as  ours,  an  inferior  gift  from  its  representative  animal  life. 
General  Grant's  Arabs  had  to  be  the  purest  and  best. 

The  best  results  obtained  by  any  crosses  are  not  through  abrupt, 
but  by  affinity  crosses,  with  the  instinct  bending  in  the  way  you  want. 
The  Arab  being  plastic,  reinforces  a  high  type  of  man's  creation  by  its 
more  vitalizing  blood.  To  breed  it  to  the  race-horse,  makes  that  blood 
hotter  and  stouter  in  its  instinct  established  ;  and  so  with  any  other 
high  forms  of  man's  creation.  Bread  is  not  flour,  nor  is  flour  wheat ;  and 
yet  except  for  the  wheat  there  would  be  neither  flour,  bread,  cake,  nor 
pie.  So  in  breeding ;  there  must  be  the  wheat,  the  seed  ;  the  life.  In 
horses  it  is  the  Arabian  seed,  blood,  and  life  from  which  man  can  create. 

I  have  implied  that  extreme  physical  conformations  and  develop- 
ments, with  rigid  instincts  as  created  by  man,  are  very  difficult  to 
change. 

We  wanted  a  national  horse  of  a  type  which  should  conform  itself 
to  our  greatest  demands  ;  which  were  stage,  coach,  road,  and  for  track 
uses  as  trotters. 

We  could  not  afford  to  mould  over  the  running-horse  to  such  pur- 
poses ;  indeed,  time  and  money  have  proven  it  too  uncertain. 

We  had  the  trotting  instinct  already  moulded  to  a  type  we  wanted ; 
what  we  needed  was  to  build  this  type  up  to  a  degree  of  superiority ; 
and  the  only  way  was  to  reinforce  it  with  fresh,  pure  blood  from  the 
cause, — i.e.,  Arabian  blood  ;  this  General  Grant  had  been  sent  from 
abroad  in  his  two  Arabian  stallions,  and  he  offered  it  to  his  people. 

Upon  their  arrival  the  only  blood  we  had  adapted  for  good,  prompt 
results,  was  that  of  Henry  Clay.     Its  physical  and  instinctive  organs 


"  CLAYEABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE  GRANT."  ac 

would  assimilate  more  readily  than  that  of  any  other  type  of  horses  we 
had,  because  of  itself  purer  in  the  primitive  blood.  It  came  nearer  to 
Sir  Thomas  Morton's  saying  of  three  hundred  years  ago,  "Once  out 
and  thrice  back  to  a  primitive  blood  for  best  results." 

When  the  o-eneral's  horses  arrived,  I  had  two  daughters  of  Old 
Henry  Clay:  both  were  got  by  him  when  he  was  owned  in  Monroe 
County,  near  Rochester,  New  York.  One  was  a  brood  mare,  being 
bred  to  a  son  of  Henry  Clay,  her  half-brother.  I  wanted  virgin  mares 
to  send  to  General  Grant's  horses,  if  I  could  find  them. 

I  secured  two  young  mares,  coming  four  and  five,  in  Michigan,  in 
18S0.  They  were  own  sisters,  by  Jack  Sheppard  by  Henry  Clay,  out 
of  his  (Jack's)  own  daughter.  The  next  best  son  of  Henry  Clay 
was  Colonel  Wads  worth,  bred  by  the  late  William  W.  Wads  worth,  who 
owned  Henry  Clay.  This  stallion,  with  one  of  his  own  daughters,  went 
to  Nashville,  Tennessee.  I  went  there,  and,  although  the  stallion  was 
dead,  found  four  of  his  daughters,  aged  at  the  time  from  two  to  seven 
(coming  three  to  eight)  ;  the  youngest  being  by  him  from  his  own 
daughter.  I  took  this  filly  with  the  two  best  of  the  other  three.  The 
tzvo  Mr.  Jewett  had,  but  the  little  filly  I  put  one  side  with  the  two  Shep- 
pard fillies  and  one  daughter  of  Henry  Clay.  I  next  went  to  New 
York  City  and  bought  back  a  young  mare  I  had  sold  there  the  fall 
before  for  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  as  a  road  mare,  allowing 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  her.  She  was  bred  near  Rochester,  New 
York,  and  was  by  Red  Bird  by  Henry  Clay,  out  of  an  inbred  Morgan 
mare.  I  now  had  five  young,  sound,  healthy,  virgin  mares  by  Henry 
Clay,  or  by  his  sons,  three  being  inbred,  and  all  were  choice;  four  being 
very  fast  natural  trotters,  and  the  fifth  one  would  be  were  she  not  mixed 
at  times  in  her  gait. 

All  this  had  been  done  in  the  fall,  winter,  and  spring  of  1879  and 
18S0,  Grant's  horses  arriving  in  the  summer  of  1879. 

These  mares  I  considered  up  to  the  English  standard  of  blood  and 
breeding. 

Permit  me  to  explain  my  reason  for  selecting  virgin  mares  for 
General  Grant's  stallions.  I  have  shown  that  I  desired  blood  akin, 
well  bred,  and  possessed  of  as  much  consanguinity  as  possible. 

Forty  years  ago,  while  a  young  man,  I  bred  fine  dogs,  game-cocks, 
and  fancy  pigeons.  From  early  boyhood  I  had  bred  small  pets,  study- 
ing quite  a  little  into  life  as  related  to  them. 

I  used  to  be  much  with  old  cockers  in  those  days,  to  learn  of  them 
what  was  interesting  to  me. 


4<5  "GENERAL   BEALE,"    "  HEGIRA,"    "ISLAM," 

I  may  be  mistaken,  but  I  am  under  the  impression  they  were  a 
stronger  and  better  type  of  men  than  we  now  find  in  that  class.  They 
were  mostly  those  who  had  been  heelers  and  handlers  for  such  of  the 
English  nobility,  as  were  more  given  to  those  sports  then,  than  at  the 
present  day,  consequently  better  informed  from  contact.  Nearly  fifty 
years  ago  I  had  a  beautiful  setter  bitch.  An  old  English  cocker  whom 
I  called  frequently  to  see,  was  always  in  a  worry  for  fear  some  cur  or 
mongrel  dog  would  get  with  her,  and  was  worried,  saying  that  if  such 
an  accident  were  to  happen,  she  would  forever  after  be  worthless  for 
breeding  purposes.  The  only  reason  he  could  give  me  was  that  any 
puppies  she  might  subsequently  have  would  be  "dung-hills,"  even  by 
the  best-bred  dog.  (The  word  "dung-hill"  is  unpleasant  to  write  or  to 
speak,  but  is  the  only  word  used  to  express  extreme  contempt  among 
the  class  of  men,  of  high  or  low  degree,  interested  in  the  breeding  of 
sporting  animals.) 

The  same  injunction  was  made  relative  to  my  game-hens  and  a  cold- 
bred  cock  ;  or  my  black- and-tan  dogs,  fearing  a  cur  cross. 

From  boyhood  I  wanted  a  reason  for  everything.  Words  that  I  did 
not  understand,  I  wanted  so  thoroughly  explained  that  I  could  use  them 
properly  myself.  The  statements  by  this  old  cocker  I  found  to  be  the 
fixed  opinion  with  all  men  of  his  class,  but  no  one  could  explain  them 
to  me.  However,  there  was  so  much  common  sense  with  these  men 
(then  fifty  to  sixty  years  old,  now  fifty  years  ago,  which  would  make 
them  over  one  hundred  if  alive),  that  their  "  say  so"  made  an  impression 
upon  me,  for  they  were  always  possessed  of  the  breeder's  gift,  which 
should  be  observing  to  a  fine  dearee.  Moreover,  their  contact  with 
their  intelligent  employers  in  the  old  country  had  tended  to  orally 
educate  them  into  many  important  problems  relating  to  breeding ;  so  I, 
too,  learned  from  them,  or  was  pushed  to  inform  myself. 

The  older  I  grew,  the  more  impressive  the  opinions  of  these  men 
became  ;  and  as  I  continued  a  student  in  animal  life,  I  have  learned  to 
listen  with  respect  to  the  teachings  of  old  men  of  strong  minds,  whether 
illiterate  or  slightly  educated  ;  thus,  whether  cock-fighters,  dog-fighters, 
or  pugilists,  I  have  found  there  was  something  to  be  learned  from  all, 
or  each  ;  and  here  let  me  say  that  a  capable  man  in  either  one  of 
these  low  occupations  is  almost  invariably  a  man  of  superiority,  men- 
tally ;  all  he  requires  to  make  him  a  recognized  man,  is  the  restraining 
influences  of  education  with  association.  I  never  knew  an  able  one  to 
be  a  drunkard. 

This  all-powerful  first  blood  influence  upon  the  virgin  female,  was  a 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT.-  ,* 

saying  with  these  old  men  that  must  have  a  reason.  As  breeders  of 
game-cocks  and  bull-dogs  they  had  listened,  observed,  and  verified  to 
their  satisfaction. 

The  illiterate  man  is  the  best-informed  man  in  the  world  so  far  as 
he  goes,  because  he  tests  and  proves  what  he  cannot  reason  out  through 
reading  and  study. 

My  inquiring  mind  would  not  rest  until  I  could  test,  or  in  some  way 
precipitate  this  saying  by  these  men.  I  hunted  over  all  the  books  I 
could  get  upon  breeding,  but  in  no  place  could  I  find  the  subject  treated  ; 
so  I.  tested  it  in  thoroughbred  black-and-tan  dogs  and  in  game-cocks, 
until  I  said  Amen  !  it  is  so.  To  test  blood  influences,  one  must  resort 
to  small  things  of  early  maturity, — man's  life  is  short. 

Later  on,  my  position  was  such  that  almost  nightly  I  listened  to  such 
men  as  old  Dr.  Mott,  the  late  Willard  Parker,  Dr.  Simms,  and  men  of 
great  research  in  the  medical  world  as  relates  to  life  in  man;  also  was 
much  in  the  New  York  hospitals,  always  a  listener  and  thinker,  as  well 
as  student. 

I  learned  that  few  men  were  gifted  in  their  professions;  many 
adopted  a  profession,  but  few  had  the  calling. 

In  those  days  we  had  much  consumption  and  scrofula  among  the 
young  and  middle-aged.  It  was  a  constant  study  and  subject  for  dis- 
cussion with  these  then  young  physicians.  That  scrofula  and  consump- 
tion were  inherited  was  asserted  ;  but  what  was  (he  cause,  was  the  point 
of  study  before  treatment  could  be  successful. 

Young  mothers  would  often  die  of  consumption  after  bearing  one 
or  two  children,  and  the  children  would  grow  up  scrofulous,  to  die  in 
the  end  of  consumption. 

In  many  instances  these  young  mothers  had  been  known  as  strong, 
healthy  girls,  from  strong,  healthy  parents,  and  the  inherent  cause  was 
imagined  to  be  in  some  remote  relative. 

Men  forget  to  quote,  "The  sins  of  the  fathers  shall  be  visited  upon 
the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation,"  or,  "Be  sure  your 
sin  will  find  you  out."  No  man  or  woman  can  violate  God's  law  without 
entailing  a  penalty. 

Through  my  interest  in  breeding,  in  connection  with  other  occupa- 
tion associated  with  life,  I  could  never  get  over  the  feeling  that  there 
must  have  been  at  some  time  printed  matter  upon  the  question  ad- 
vanced to  me  by  these  old  cockers  of  fifty  years  ago,  as  to  after-results 
from  first  conceptions,  and  which  saying  has  been  continued  with  them 
to  the  present  day.     If  there  were  a  cause  for  physical  entailment  of 


48 


"  GENERAL   BEALE,"    "  HEGIRA"    "  ISLAM," 


disease  in  man,  it  must  be  of  a  similar  cause  for  influence  upon  the 
virgin  brute  through  a  first  conception,  for  subsequent  conceptions  to 
different  males.  Reproduction  of  life  in  man,  is  the  same  as  with 
the  brute ;  and  as  everything  pertaining  to  life  is  of  importance  to 
man,  there  should  be  no  restraint  upon  a  proper  discussion  of  such 
topic. 

The  seed  is  life  in  man  or  beast ;  it  is  blood.  If  we  sow  wheat  that 
is  diseased,  the  crop  will  be  diseased.  If  we  plant  smut  corn,  our  field 
will  yield  abundantly  of  smut  corn.  And  so  in  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
disease  produces  disease  in  the  following  crops.  Life  is  life,  whether 
vegetable,  animal,  or  human;  and  man  was  intended  to  study  himself, 
through  observation  and  comparison ;  with  life  largely  subjected  to  his 
will.  The  ground  is  mother-earth,  and  can  become  diseased  so  as  to 
bring  forth  diseased  fruit.  It  partakes  of  the  first  seed  planted  in  it, 
to  contribute  in  succeeding  births,  health  or  disease. 

Constitutional  imperfections  in  the  male  may  be  absorbed  by  the 
female,  to  be  given  out  again  and  again  in  her  produce  to  different 
males. 

Although  I  had  proven  to  myself  thirty  years  ago,  that  the  influence 
of  the  first  male  upon  the  system  of  the  female  was  such  that  she  gave 
of  her  constitutional  impregnation  to  the  get  of  other  males,  I  still  con- 
tinued to  search  in  old  medical  and  scientific  works  for  some  treatise 
upon  the  question. 

I  had  reasoned  the  matter  out  within  myself,  but  wanted  other 
authority  than  my  own  by  way  of  verification,  and  at  last  found  it ;  but 
must  repeat  from  memory.  Although  precisely  my  own  conclusions,  I 
will  not  say  to  the  reader,  I  am  the  man. 

Let  every  reader  and  every  thinker  remember  that  there  is  nothing 
new  under  the  sun,  not  even  in  the  mind  of  man. 

One  day,  while  in  the  office  of  a  physician  gifted  in  obstetrics  and 
female  diseases  or  disorders,  I  found  in  his  library  a  very  old  medical 
and  scientific  work,  dated  in  England  in  i  700,  with  extracts  dating  in 
1 600.  In  it,  the  very  subject  which  for  so  many  years  I  had  studied  over, 
was  treated  upon  ;  and  opened  to  me  the  origin  of  the  old  English 
cocker's  saying  of  fifty  years  ago.  The  article  was  entitled,  "  The  Influ- 
ence of  the  Blood  of  the  Male  upon  the  Female  in  After-conceptions  by 
Different  Males,"  and  reasoned  thus: 

First,  the  seed  is  life.  In  animal  or  human  it  is  blood,  but  life:  seed 
first,  blood  second,  then  life. 

Here  let  me  illustrate  to  such  as  will  understand.     Life  is  in  the 


"  CLAYRABIAr   AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT."  40 

seed,  which  may  be  at  a  high  or  low  degree.     To  diminish  the  seed,  is  to 
lower  vitality  or  vigor  of  life. 

With  many  living  things,  coition  between  the  sexes  is  certain  death 
to  the  male.  He  has  given  his  seed,  his  life.  This  I  learned  in  1835 
while  breeding  and  growing  silk-worms.  The  most  beautiful  and  vig- 
orous millers  would  come  from  the  cocoons,  and  after  one  coition,  death 
was  certain  to  the  male,  while  the  female  lived  on  to  lay  her  eggs.  To 
take  the  male  and  confine  him  alone,  was  to  lengthen  his  life  with  con- 
tinued vigor ;  but  the  laws  of  re-creation  demanded  death  through  the 
giving  of  life.      I  will  continue  from  this  treatise  of  1600: 

The  seed  of  the  male  is  life  ;  if  life,  it  is  blood  ;  and  the  blood  is  what 
is  recognized  as  of  importance  in  the  breeding  of  animals. 

The  virgin  we  will  suppose  to  be  as  she  usually  is,  pure  as  sun- 
light, in  her  blood,  to  one  type  (for  we  are  not  now  doing  with  mongrels, 
only  as  we  create  them). 

Coition  takes  place  between  the  male  and  a  virgin  female.  The 
seed  is  received  into  the  uterus  or  womb,  where  it  germinates  into 
blood,  which,  united  with  that  of  the  virgin,  becomes  part  of  her  life, 
fed  by  her  blood.  Now,  if  this  fcetus  be  in  truth  a  part  of  the  male, 
then  the  life  of  his  seed  must  contribute  to  the  life  of  the  growing  fcetus. 
The  blood  of  the  growing  fcetus,  representing  both  sire  and  mother, 
passes  back  and  forth  with  each  pulsation  of  the  heart  of  the  mother, 
through  her  entire  system,  feeding  and  replenishing  her  system  to  all 
draughts  upon  it  during  the  period  of  gestation,  or  up  to  maturity  of 
and  birth  of  the  foal.  Now,  if  we  say  the  new-born  foal  partakes  of 
the  blood  of  the  sire,  and  that  blood  has  to  a  certain  extent  been  feed- 
ing the  system  of  its  mother  for  a  period  of  eleven  months,  we  have 
a  right  to  suppose  that  the  blood  of  the  sire  of  the  new-born  foal  still 
remains  in  the  system  of  the  virgin  dam  ;  and  from  it,  she  must  impart 
to  her  next  foal  by  some  other  horse.  If  this  be  not  so,  then  it  makes 
no  difference  what  the  blood  of  the  dam  may  be,  so  long  as  the  sire  is 
all  right;  but  such  reasoning-  as  this  would  be  against  human  reason; 
or,  if  I  am  correct,  then  we  have  an  explanation  of  atavism,  or  sporting 
back.  With  me  the  argument  is  a  fact ;  and  is  one  that  should  draw 
attention  from  all  breeders.  More  study  with  deeper  thinking  is  what 
is  needed,  and  less  "cross  and  cut-cross'  business. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  nerve-power  is  mostly  given  by  the  dam  ;  but 
that  is  a  blind  supposition.  If  the  dam  be  the  better  bred  of  the  two, 
as  was  usually  the  case  when  the  well-bred  Clay  mare  was  prostituted 
to  colder  blood,  then  she  did  contribute  most  of  the  nerve-power  for 

7 


c;o  "  GENERAL   BEALE,"    "  HEGlRAr    "  ISLAM;' 

speed  to  the  foal ;  but  breed  any  kind  of  a  mare  one  may  prefer,  to  a 
thoroughbred  Arabian  horse,  and  they  will  find  the  nerve-power  will  be 
given  by  the  horse  to  the  foal,  thus  proving  again  that  "  blood  will  tell." 

Animals  should  be  bred  to  one  blood  instinct  in  order  to  be  eetters 
of  a  positive  type  ;  not  the  desired  instinct  in  our,  with  a  belief  that  it 
will  predominate  over  a  deficiency  in  the  other,  and  that  the  produce 
will  be  superior  to  either  sire  or  dam.  The  talk  about  building  up  this 
deficiency,  or  reducing  a  surplus  of  some  one  propensity  through  this 
cross  or  that  cross,  is  the  most  astonishing  talk  to  me,  from  otherwise 
intelligent  men. 

For  success  in  breeding,  both  male  and  female  must  be  true  to  one 
type  ;  then  with  united  effort,  the  young  is  improved.  Messenger  was  a 
great  getter,  because  the  blood  of  both  sire  and  dam  was  close  to  the 
one  original  type, — Godolphin  Arabian. 

The  experience  of  Thomas  Bates  in  breeding  short-horns,  illustrates 
the  importance  of  purity  of  blood  to  one  type,  in  both  male  and  female. 
The  repeated  destruction  of  the  foundation  for  the  English  thorough- 
bred running-horse,  through  external  and  internal  wars  between  1639 
and  1700,  with  every  time  a  resort  to  original  or  primitive  blood  of  the 
Arabian,  should  be  a  lesson  to  all  not  to  be  much  blinded  by  prejudice. 

OF    EXTENDED    PEDIGREKS. 

It  is  customary  to  extend  the  pedigree  of  horses  back  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. No  thought  is  given  to  the  blood  influence,  simply  a  desire  to 
reach  at  some  point  back,  a  prominent  thoroughbred  running-horse. 

Thus,  in  such  pedigrees  we  find  bloods  that  were  supposed  to  pace; 
others  which  were  known  to  be  mongrel-bred  running-horses,  with  a 
work-horse  or  two  ;  but  in  the  end,  Diomed  or  Messenger  are  certain 
to  be  added,  to  whom  to  credit  all  good. 

All  through  these  long  lines  of  ancestry  we  find  mongrel-bred 
horses;  but  every  time  a  running-bred  horse  is  found  or  made  to  fit, 
the  enthusiastic  prejudiced  advocate  of  race-horse  blood,  points  his 
finger  with  pride  to  the  printers'  ink,  of  the  name, — not  the  blood 
instinct,  lor  it  is  not  there  except  to  run,  were  the  animal  alive. 

Now,  for  the  benefit  of  such  uninformed  but  visionary  advocates  of 
Diomed  blood  influences,  let  me  state  how  he  was  bred,  when  he  was 
foaled,  and  when  he  died,  then  tell  me  what  possible  blood  influence  he 
can  have  upon  any  horse  of  to-day;  or,  better,  we  will  say  that  he  did 
stud  duty  in  the  State  of  Virginia  from  1799  to  1S07,  and  that  he  was 
twenty-two  years  old  when  first  covering  a  mare  in  Virginia.    Of  course, 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE  GRANT."  r, 

from  twenty-two  to  twenty-nine  were  his  years  of  stud  service,  and  in 
all  my  experience  with  old  horses  I  have  never  known  of  one  to  be  a 
very  sure  foal-getter,  except  for  a  very  limited  number  of  mares,  when 
past  twenty-three  years  old.  Diomed  got  but  few,  and  of  course  they 
were  running-bred  of  different  breedings,  which  meant  dilution  of  his 
blood  influences,  except  to  the  one  instinct — run,  which  was  the  all- 
absorbing  thought  in  breeding  in  Virginia, — i.e.,  to  win  at  the  running 
gait. 

On  the  dam ' s  side  of  Diomed  we  find  three  infusions  of  Arabian 
blood  close  up,  from  Godolphin  Arabian,  Darley's  Arabian,  and  Al- 
cock's  Arabian.  Please,  dear  reader,  fasten  this  truth  in  your  mind. 
Then  take  the  sire  of  Diomed,  and  we  find  in  both  his  sire  and  dam, 
Godolphin  Arabian  close  up  ;  and  a  little  back  Leed's  Arabian,  Darley 
Arabian,  Bethel's  Arabian,  and  Byerly  Turk.  Now,  no  great,  long- 
extended  pedigree  through  great  mongrelizations  is  tacked  on  to 
Diomed,  but  every  sire  and  dam  was  Arabian  blood  close  up ;  hence 
when  the  plastic  Arabian  blood  of  Diomed  was  bent  by  man's  will  to 
trot,  it  was  able  to  do  so  with  the  true  game  do  or  die  qualities  of  the 
Arabian. 

Had  Diomed  landed  in  New  York  State  in  place  of  Virginia,  and 
his  get  been  used  to  stage-coaches  as  were  Messenger's,  it  is  a  question 
whether  it  would  not  have  been  almost  the  equal  of  Messenger.  With 
me,  as  an  individual,  it  would  not,  because  the  special  pliability  of 
Messenger  blood  was  greater,  being  purer  Arabian  and  more  of  the 
one  family,  Godolphin. 

To-day,  these  blood  instincts  with  influences,  are  gone.  It  is  folly 
to  talk  of  Messenger  blood,  or  of  Diomed  blood  influences  in  our 
trotting-horses  of  the  present  time.  They  are  uncertainties  from  a 
multitude  of  mongrelizations,  which  no  amount  of  printers'  ink  in  pedi- 
grees can  purify  or  make  more  positive.  Uncertainty  induced  our 
"time  standard,"  which  is  like  the  chip  on  the  boy's  shoulder,  with  his 
bravado,  "  Knock  it  off  if  you  dare !" 

Let  us  simile  the  printed  horse  pedigrees  of  to-day  by  naming  dogs. 
Horses  are  horses,  dogs  are  dogs,  and  game-cocks  are  game-cocks. 
I  have  bred  them  all  to  blood,  and  know  practically  what  I  am  writing 
about. 

We  will  say  that  I  have  a  remarkable  pointer  bitch.  (I  have  owned 
and  bred  many.)  I  will  take  one  sent  to  me  as  a  little  puppy  many  years 
ago  by  Commodore  Foxhall  A.  Parker,  of  the  United  States  Navy 
(deceased).     His  word  was  sufficient  as  to  her  breeding.     I  grew  her, 


r2  "GENERAL  BEALE,"   "  HEGIRA,"   "ISLAM," 

thoroughly  house-breaking  her,  then  presented  her  to  Colonel  J.  James 
La  Rue,  of  West  Virginia.  She  was  bred  to  blood,  and  proved  a  worker 
in  the  field  from  the  word  go.  We  will  imagine  her  pedigree  much  as 
the  long  pedigrees  of  horses  seem  to  me  in  catalogues  and  stud-books. 
We  will  say  her  sire  was  a  bull-terrier  out  of  a  King  Charles  slut.  Her 
grandsire  was  an  Italian  greyhound  out  of  a  black-and-tan  slut.  Her 
great-grandsire  was  a  spitz  out  of  an  Irish  setter,  and  so  on ;  take  them 
all  in  as  one  very  expensive  catalogue  by  a  horse-breeder  of  great 
repute  does  in  extended  pedigrees,  but  best  explained  thus : 

Saint  Bernard,  Newfoundland,  mastiff,  English  bull-dog,  pointer, 
setter,  greyhound,  Russian  blood-hound,  Scotch  deer-hound,  French 
poodle,  Dutch  beagle,  Spanish  blood-hound,  Scotch  terrier,  water- 
spaniel,  cocker,  fox-hound,  otter-hound,  two  cur  clogs,  Skye  terrier,  pug, 
colly  dog,  harrier,  fox-terrier,  English  pointer,  and  the  bitch  sent  to  me 
by  Commodore  Parker  which  I  presented  to  Colonel  La  Rue  as  a  thor- 
oughbred pointer ! 

Now,  these  names  represent  dogs,  and  many  a  man  would  accept 
the  breeding  of  the  pointer  slut  just  as  I  here  make  it  up,  were  they  to 
read  it  in  print.  I  am  knowing  to  a  great  many  deceptions  in  the 
breedings  of  horses  fully  as  ridiculous  as  I  here  illustrate  through  mixing 
of  dogs.  Alfred,  imported  by  Thomas  Weddle  in  1833,  was  an  English 
draught-horse.  In  these  days  he  figures  in  paper  pedigrees  as  "  Sir  Al- 
fred," the  imported  English  thoroughbred.  Turk,  also  imported  by  him 
at  the  same  time,  was  a  Cleveland  Bay  (as  was  Bellfounder,  imported 
ten  years  earlier).  In  these  days  he  figures  as  an  English  thorough- 
bred, and  the  get  of  both  these  horses  was  taken  into  Kentucky  for 
stock  purposes,  also  into  the  East  and  the  West.  General  Dudley  and 
Henry  Clay,  Jr.,  both  took  such  horses  from  here  into  Kentucky,  where 
the  Alfred  and  Turk  stock  were  well  liked. 

Imported  Emigrant  was  another  of  the  Alfred  type  ;  but  to-day  he 
figures  as  the  thoroughbred  English  horse  "Imported  Emigrant." 

Men  are  not  all  interested  in  breeding  of  horses  or  dogs;  but  some 
who  have  acquired  wealth,  gratify  a  latent  desire  for  a  horse  or  dog, 
then,  with  greater  ignorance  than  a  boy,  accept  printed  pedigrees  as 
authentic,  contending  with  great  energy  for  their  truthfulness. 

The  mixing  of  all  these  dogs  as  I  have  given  them,  is  but  "crossing 
and  out-crossing,"  as  advocated  by  some  papers.  Each  well-bred  horse 
has  a  type  of  its  own,  which  can  be  crossed  out  then  back  upon  ;  but 
to  create  a  new  and  self-sustaining  type,  resort  must  be  had  to  the 
primitive.     One  cannot  get  far  away  from  a  primitive,  then  resort  to  it 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE  GRANT."  r, 

with  speedily  satisfactory  results.  It  was  from  knowing  this  that  I 
selected  my  mares  with  so  great  care  to  stint  to  General  U.  S.  Grant's 
Arabians. 

I  will  tell  you  of  another  move  I  made  before,  at  the  time,  and  after 
I  had  bred  to  General  Grant's  Arabians.  I  owned  Jack  Sheppard, 
Ashland,  Black  Henry,  and  Rushmore,  each  a  son  of  Henry  Clay.  To 
these  I  added  Baltimore's  Henry  Clay  or  Hepburn,  and  Spink,  by 
Andy  Johnson  by  Henry  Clay.  I  had  mares  by  Old  Henry,  which  I 
stinted  to  these  horses.  I  then  added  Clay  Pilot  by  Neave's  Clay  by 
Cassius  M.  Clay  by  Henry  Clay,  to  secure  the  Pilot  blood.  I  had  in 
the  mean  time  selected  choice  mares  by  the  best  sons  of  Henry  Clay 
which  were  dead;  they  were  Harrison  Clay,  Madison  Clay,  and  Colonel 
Wadsworth. 

With  the  get  of  these  sons  of  Henry  Clay  out  of  my  better-bred 
mares  by  Henry  Clay  and  his  sons,  I  sold  to  Henry  C.  Jewett  &  Co., 
of  Buffalo,  Black  Henry,  Rushmore,  and  Ashland,  also  Sailor  by  Ash- 
land, urging  them,  as  the  stallions  were  old,  to  breed  Clay  blood  close, 
if  they  could  get  the  mares.  But  they  were  strongly  impressed  with 
the  cry  of  "cross  and  out-cross,"  as  public  opinion  and  public  prejudice 
were  financially  important  to  them  ;  so  I  ceased  to  speak,  pursuing  my 
own  course  marked  out.  I  knew  that  breeding  to  an  uncertainty,  with 
any  amount  of  capital  at  the  back,  must  be  failure  in  the  end ;  and  that 
to  breed  to  a  certainty,  with  no  capital,  could  be  no  worse. 

My  close  breeding  of  Clay  was  very  satisfactory.  The  foals  came 
in  excellent  form, — strong,  healthy,  and  active,  growing  up  handsomer, 
finer,  and  larger  than  the  parent  stock,  every  one  showing  strong 
trotting-  instinct. 

I  was  fortunate  in  that  my  inbreeding  of  Clay  gave  me  almost  every 
time  a  filly,  while  my  Arab  get  came  horses.  This  attempt  dates  from 
1880,  so  that  my  first  are  now  past  four  years  old,  and  so  clown  to  suck- 
lings. To  accomplish  my  purpose  I  had  to  keep  all  produce.  My  old 
stock  represented  the  choicest  possible  selections,  which  I  would  not 
sell ;  then  to  part  with  my  inbred  fillies,  was  to  rob  my  Arabian  Clay 
stallion  colts,  and  frustrate  my  attempts. 

My  purse  was  short;  and  but  for  the  Hon.  Erastus  Corning,  of 
Albany,  F.  P.  Freeman,  of  New  York,  and  L.  B.  Ashley,  of  Rochester, 
I  should  have  been  unable  to  continue  to  this  time.  It  has  been  a  long 
hold.  The  privations  I  have  endured,  the  physical  labor  I  have  under- 
gone, the  large  amount  of  public  and  private  writing  I  have  accom- 
plished have  been  little  compared  with  the  unjust,  untruthful,  and  cruel 


54  "GENERAL   BEALE"    "  HEGIRA"    "ISLAM," 

attacks  through  sporting  journals  ;  but  I  have  stood  up  to  it  all,  and 
now  look  upon  my  labors  as  having  been  productive  of  good  results. 
I  have  had  one  good,  faithful  man :  and  what  he  lacked  in  some  ways 
I  made  up,  thankful  he  was  temperate  and  faithful.  It  took  courage, 
firmness,  and  concentrated  purpose,  with  quite  a  little  information  ; 
and  at  this  writing  I  am  very  bold  to  say  that  no  such  collection  in  one 
family  of  horses,  each  and  every  one  true  to  its  type  and  pure  in  its 
blood,  upon  which  to  found  and  establish  a  national  horse,  has  before 
been  known  upon  this  continent.  Neither  the  English  thoroughbred 
running-horse,  nor  the  French  Percheron  draught-horse,  nor  the  Rus- 
sian Orloff  trotting-horse  were  equally  well  founded ;  besides  which,  it 
is  purely  American  as  a  foundation.  It  boasts  of  no  English  creation, 
nor  French,  nor  Russian  ;  but  does  boast  of  the  one  primitive  horse, 
the  Arabian,  from  which,  as  I  have  said,  each  one  of  these  other  nations 
created  their  "national  idols  ;"  for  a  good,  pure-bred  horse  will  be  idol- 
ized by  man. 

I  have  concentrated  my  lifetime  experience  upon  this  object,  that 
others  might  be  benefited;  and  not  for  a  purpose  of  financial  gain  to 
myself,  as  many  have  thought. 

That  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire  I  do  believe ;  and  so  feeling, 
trust  that  all  my  labor  will  not  have  been  lost. 

I  am  CTettino-  to  be  an  old  man  from  continued  hard  work,  mental 
and  physical ;  and  when  I  say  that  for  ten  years  I  have  not  had  one 
single  day  of  recreation,  the  reader  can  gather  some  idea  of  what  my 
applications  have  been. 

Some  have  felt  hard  towards  me  because  my  stallions  were  not  for 
public  service.  Such  as  were  old,  I  desired  should  be  vigorous  for  my 
use.  Mv  Arabs  I  declined,  because  if  to  be  condemned,  I  preferred  it 
should  be  through  the  virgin  mares  I  had  "Town  for  them,  and  which  I 
believed  would  be  impossible.  I  have  long  felt  that  our  manner  of 
breeding  horses  demanded  a  change  ;  that  intelligent  reasons  should 
be  introduced  anions  such  breeders,  as  crovern  those  interested  in 
cattle  and  sheep.  We  have  been  long  breeding  mongrels  of  no  fixed 
type  of  value,  and  ultimate  results  must  prove  financially  disastrous  to 
the  agricultural  country,  as  well  as  to  those  who  are  making  a  specialty 
of  breeding  horses  of  mixed  bloods. 

The  motto,  "  Fewer  and  better,"  should  be  hung  up  in  the  office  and 
stable  of  every  breeder ;  then  the  occupation  would  grow  more  scien- 
tific in  its  tendency,  with  more  pleasant  and  profitable  results.  No 
man  can  afford  to  breed  and  raise  coach-  and  road-horses  at  seventy- 


"  CLAYRABIA,"   AND   "  CLAYBEALE  GRANT."  r  c 

five,  one  hundred,  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  head  at  a  selling 
age  ;  and  yet,  from  our  present  way  of  breeding,  it  will  be  exceptionally 
good  ones  to  bring  those  prices. 

In  closing  this  article  I  would  have  every  breeder  in  the  land  con- 
sider me  his  friend.  I  can  sympathize  with  them  in  their  troubles,  for  I 
know  them  from  practical  experience.  No  other  breeder  has  so  many. 
The  trials,  disappointments,  and  vexations  are  greater  than  in  any  other 
occupation,  in  which  they  can  have  little  sympathy  from  the  financial, 
commercial,  or  social  world.  Indeed,  outside  their  own  calling  they  can 
have  little  intercourse,  and  that  is  not  always  companionable. 

As  I  have  said,  I  am  growing  old  fast ;  and  would  make  a  sugges- 
tion, that  a  syndicate  of  younger  men  of  means,  interested  in  the 
breeding  of  horses,  should  take  my  entire  foundation  as  it  is  to-day, 
then  build  up  from  it  a  "national  horse"  to  their  own  credit,  and  to  the 
credit  of  the  country,  to  which  the  name  of  General  U.  S.  Grant  would 
be  a  base,  and  to  whose  memory  this  book  is  dedicated. 

Having  introduced  a  transcript  from  old  English  records  relating 
to  the  foundation  of  their  thoroughbred  race-horse,  I  have,  with  permis- 
sion, taken  portions  from  General  Smith's  genealogical  tabulation  for 
his  Golddust  stallion,  extending  them  somewhat  from  my  own  records. 

By  them,  gentlemen  who  have  been  accustomed  to  cite  Sir  Archy, 
American  Eclipse,  Duroc,  Diomed,  or  other  thoroughbred  running- 
horses  as  the  blood  cause  for  superior  merit  in  our  coach-,  road-,  and 
trotting-horse,  will  the  more  easily  understand  my  preaching  of  Arabian 
blood  direct. 

It  is  also  a  recorded  fact  in  English  turf  history,  that  such  sires  as 
were  most  closely  related  to  their  imported  Arabian  stallions  were  the 
getters  of  their  highest  rates  of  speed,  with  endurance.  The  tables  I 
have  given,  showing  prominent  thoroughbred  running-horses,  are  neces- 
sarily in  part  the  foundation  of  our  great  American  trotting-horse;  but 
with  me  it  does  not  seem  necessary  to  take  the  blood  cause  in  that  way, 
for  it  is  too  expensive,  and  too  far-fetched.  Strike  from  the  shoulder! 
Messenger,  we  know,  was  positive  for  trot ;  he  was  triply  inbred  to  the 
Arab.  Andrew  Jackson  and  his  best  son,  Henry  Clay,  were,  like  im- 
ported Messenger,  close-bred  to  Arabian  blood, — were  born  trotters, 
which  blood  instinct  they  gave  strongly  to  their  get  from  any  and  all 
classes  of  dams.  I  will,  in  brief,  tabulate  them.  Again,  L.  L.  Dorsey's 
old  Golddust  so  strongly  verifies  my  argument,  I  will  also  introduce  him 
in  genealogical  tabulation,  which  brings  in  the  famous  Justin  Morgan. 

In  speaking  of  Justin   Morgan,  permit  me  to  state  that  from  my 


e6  "GENERAL   BEALE,"    "HEGIRAy    "ISLAM," 

earliest  boyhood  old  men  spoke  of  him  as  an  Arabian-bred  horse.  I 
was  born  within  five  miles  of  where  Justin  Morgan  was  got  and  foaled, 
— i.e.,  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  My  father,  grandfather,  great-  and 
great-great-grandfathers  were  all  born  between  Springfield,  Massachu- 
setts, and  Hartford,  Connecticut.  None  were  horse-dealers,  but  all 
owned  and  loved  good  horses.  As  a  family,  they  were  remarked  for 
good  memory  and  cultured  intelligence.  Fifty  years  ago,  as  a  boy,  I 
would  listen  to  these  old  gentlemen  in  Springfield  as  they  talked  about 
the  Arabian-bred  "  Morgan  horses,"  and  many  was  the  one  I  rode  or 
drove. 

Study,  observation,  and  practical  experience  with  my  sons  and 
daughters  of  General  Grant's  Arabian  stallions,  refreshes  memory,  con- 
firming my  belief  in  the  statements  by  these  old  gentlemen  regarding 
the  Arabian  breeding  of  Justin  Morgan.  First,  the  get  of  Arabian 
stallions  are  small  in  inches,  but  powerful  in  muscular  development. 
Their  heads  are  fine  and  good,  and  their  ears  are  small.  From  four- 
teen to  fourteen  and  three-quarters  is  the  usual  height.  One  rising  to 
fifteen  and  one-quarter  or  fifteen  and  one-half  is  very  large  for  an  Arab- 
bred  horse.  They  are  short  in  the  back,  are  well  ribbed  up,  and  power- 
fully compact  in  build.  Justin  Morgan  had  all  these  points.  Any  one 
of  my  sons  and  daughters  of  General  Grant's  Arabs,  would  pass  in 
Vermont  for  highly-bred  Morgan  horses,  although  Hegira  would  be 
considered  very  large.  Three  of  them  are  duplicates  of  old-time  pen- 
pictures  of  Justin  Morgan. 

L.  L.  Dorsey's  old  Golddust,  which  I  have  spoken  of,  is  a  happy 
illustration  of  the  principle  in  animal  life  of  once  out  and  thrice  back 
to  a  primitive  blood.  If  Justin  Morgan  had  been  the  product  of  Eng- 
lish thoroughbred  running-horse  blood  far  removed  from  Arabian,  why 
is  it  that  the  Morgan  type  could  never  in  any  way  be  duplicated  in 
England  or  America  by  or  through  crosses  from  the  English  thorough- 
bred fixed  type  ?  Still,  the  Morgan  horse  retains  his  characteristics 
widely  different  from  any  thoroughbred  race-horse  crosses. 

Besides  Messenger,  Morgan,  and  Dorsey's  old  Golddust,  each  a 
representative  of  close-bred  Arabian  product,  we  have  Andrew  Jackson 
and  his  best  son,  Henry  Clay.  Now,  every  horseman  knows  that  each 
one  of  these  five  different  Arab-bred  stallions  were  natural  trotters, 
and  to  the  end  of  time  produced  instinctive  trot  in  their  get;  with  all, 
the  first  get  by  each  representative  Arab-bred  horse  were  famous 
quarter  horses  at  the  running  gait.  Is  there  no  reason  in  our  argu- 
ments? 


"  CLAYRABIA,"    AND   "  CLAYBEALE   GRANT."  cy 

Were  it  not  for  vexing  my  publishers  through  annoyance  to  their 
compositors  and  proof-readers,  I  would  introduce  a  number  of  genea- 
logical tabulations,  but  I  have  already  burdened  them  beyond  an 
apology. 

It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  serious  errors  will  creep  into  print,  which 
lead  many  breeders  to  great  disappointment;  but  such  errors  are  un- 
avoidable. In  speaking  of  the  Morgan  horse  (although  I  have  over- 
stepped my  contract  with  my  publishers  as  to  number  of  pages),  I  will 
tell  of  one  serious  error  and  explain  it.  Thomas  Hx  Kellogg  was  born 
in  Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  in  1773,  moving  to  East  Bloomfield,  Ontario 
County,  about  1800.  He  was  a  large  farmer  and  great  horseman ;  always 
keeping  one  or  two  stallions  for  public  service.  These  he  would  bring 
from  the  East  (Long  Island  and  New  England  was  then  called  the 
East).  In  1826  he  brought  from  Boston  a  son  of  Justin  Morgan  that 
had  been  raised  in  Vermont.  Mr.  Kellogg  stood  this  horse  as  "  Kel- 
logg's  son  of  Justin  Morgan,"  or  as  the  "  Morgan  horse."  In  1828  the 
Morgan  abduction  (Masonic)  involved  his  son-in-law,  Colonel  Edward 
Sawyer,  of  Canandaigua  (eight  miles  distant).  Prejudice  ran  very  high 
against  the  name  of  Morgan,  so  that  even  the  name  of  Mr.  Kelloo-o-'s 
stallion  was  a  damage  to  him  ;  then  too,  Colonel  Sawyer  being  a  son- 
in-law  of  Thomas  H.  Kellogg,  his  Morgan  stallion  was  in  danger.  It 
was  advised  to  change  the  name  ;  and  as  this  country  was  full  of  Scotch- 
men, the  name  of  "Highlander"  was  given  to  Kellogg's  son  of  Justin 
Morgan.  It  was  a  big  move,  and  as  anything  brought  from  the  East  into 
this  then  far  West  was  said  to  be  imported,  they  soon  spoke  of  Thomas 
Kellogg's  horse  as  the  "  imported  horse  Highlander."  By  him  were  got 
Shelton's  Highlander,  Paul's  Highlander,  Baker's  Highlander,  with  in- 
numerable sons  and  daughters,  and  grandsons  and  granddaughters,  to 
be  scattered  East  and  West  as  by  "imported  Highlander,"  and  later  as 
by  "thoroughbred  Highlander;"  even  the  old  horse  himself  went  West 
as  "  imported  Highlander."  This  is  the  thoroughbred  Highlander  blood 
in  the  grandam  of  George  Wilkes.  These  truths  I  am  knowing  to,  as 
are  plenty  of  other  old  men.  T.  H.  Kellogg  died  in  East  Bloomfield 
in  1857,  eighty-four  years  old,  and  his  daughter  Mary  long  resided  with 
my  father-in-law. 

In  these  days  I  never  see  the  name  of  "  Highlander"  in  the  breeding 
of  any  trotting-horse  East  or  West,  without  wondering  to  myself  whether 
the  blood  came  from  Uncle  Thomas  Kellogg's  son  of  the  Arabian-bred 
Justin  Morgan.  There  are  so  many  errors  in  the  recorded  breedings 
of  noted  horses  that  I  am  knowing  to,  as  in  the  above  instance,  that  I 


eg  "GENERAL   BEALE,"   "  HEGIRA,"    "ISLAM," 

am  a  very  sceptical  man  in  matters  of  recorded  pedigrees.  One  of 
the  greatest  brood  mares  in  America,  as  a  producer  of  the  highest  rates 
of  trotting  speed  in  every  colt,  by  any  horse,  is  recorded  with  a  long 
pedigree  which  I  know  to  be  positively  false  ;  for  both  herself  and  dam 
were  bred  and  raised  near  me,  and  I  know  all  about  them ;  but  because 
thoroughbred  runninsr-horse  blood  is  so  fashionable  in  the  sire  or  dam, 
her  pedigree  is  loaded  with  it,  in  print.  Her  owner  is  one  of  the  promi- 
nent men  in  the  country,  and  to  attack  the  pedigree  of  his  wonderful 
brood  mare  would  injure  me,  without  doing  any  good.  In  another 
instance,  where  I  wrote  the  owner  that  the  breeding  of  his  horse  as 
advertised  to  the  public  was  a  mistake,  showing  him  where,  he  replied 
by  letter,  which  I  still  have,  saying,  "  My  horse  has  a  good  pedigree 
and  is  recorded.  Until  a  man  can  give  me  a  better  one,  his  advertised 
breeding  will  not  be  changed."  Now,  no  man  need  fear  me,  for  I  prefer 
to  die  with  these  errors  unrevealed  rather  than  endure  any  more  in- 
justice than  I  have,  from  trying  to  help  breeders  at  large,  through  telling 
them  where  their  "Chester  white"  was  a  "  Berkshire  bred"  to  my  per- 
sonal knowledge. 

"Blood  Will  Tell." 


CLA  YRABIA,"   AND   "  CLA  YBEALE  GRANT.' 


59 


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6o  OLD  "HENRY  CLAY." 


OLD  "HENRY  CLAY." 


The  likeness  of  the  stallion  Henry  Clay,  known  as  Colonel  William 
W.  Wadsworth's  Henry  Clay  for  many  years,  but  of  late  as  Old  Henry 
Clay,  is  the  only  correct  picture  of  the  horse  presented  to  the  public 
eye.  Henry  Clay  was  Arabian-bred,  strongly  so  ;  possessing  the  build, 
disposition,  and  constitution  of  the  Arab.  His  ears  were  fine  and  small, 
forehead  full  and  broad,  jowls  deep,  wide  between,  and  thin  ;  eyes  large 
and  prominent,  muzzle  small,  with  thin  lips,  and  large  thin  nostrils. 
His  limbs  were  fine,  yet  powerful ;  the  osselets  small,  as  in  the  Ara- 
bian ;  while  his  very  handsome  feet  were  tough  enough  to  go  for  all 
time  barefoot,  a  peculiarity  of  the  Arab.  He  was  the  founder  of  the 
entire  family  of  Clay  horses,  and  his  purity  of  blood  was  so  great  as 
to  stamp  his  high  physical  qualities  with  instincts  to  a  positiveness, 
outlasting  that  of  all  other  families  to  date. 

In  1846  and  1847,  Mr.  T.  K.  Van  Zant,  of  Albany,  New  York,  then 
a  rising  young  artist,  was  employed  by  Miss  Wadsworth  (sister  of 
William  W.  Wadsworth)  to  paint  some  blooded  cattle  and  sheep,  for 
her.  At  this  time,  Mr.  Wadsworth  requested  that  Henry  Clay  should 
be  painted  as  he  stood  i?i  Iris  stall.  The  painting  was  large  and  attrac- 
tive. Sitting  in  front  of  the  horse  was  a  white  terrier  dog,  a  companion 
of  Henry,  and  pet  with  Mr.  Wadsworth.  Upon  the  harness-pegs  in  the 
stall  was  a  bridle  ;  and  in  the  door-way  were  brushes  and  comb,  and  an 
open  window  gave  a  charming  perspective  view,  so  that  as  a  whole,  the 
painting  pleased  Mr.  Wadsworth,  although  the  horse  as  represented, 
was  but  a  poor  attempt  by  an  amateur.  Such  was  the  Wadsworth 
painting.  However,  when  we  consider  Mr.  Van  Zant's  limited  experi- 
ence at  that  time,  also  his  physical  infirmities  (neither  fingers  nor  thumb), 
we  must  say  that  he  deserves  both  credit  and  commendation  for  his 
prominence  as  an  animal  painter  in  later  years.  My  introduction  of 
Henry  Clay  into  this  book  may  be  considered  out  of  place;  but  when 
it  is  understood  that  the  horse  was  strongly  inbred  to  Arabian  blood  in 
both  sires  and  dams,  and  was  but  a  third  remove  from  an  imported 


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OLD  "HENRY  CLAY."  6 1 

thoroughbred  Arabian,  and  that,  through  the  dams,  Henry  Clay  was 
superior  in  blood  to  imported  Messenger,  and  as  an  individual  horse 
was  of  far  greater  merit,  I  am  certain  the  reader  will  approve  the  sub- 
ject as  happily  introduced. 

As  my  long-looked  for  "  Clay  History,"  with  between  seventy  and 
eighty  sketches  of  sons  and  daughters  and  grandsons  and  grand- 
daughters (by  the  lamented  Herbert  S.  Kittredge),  will  at  some  time 
appear,  it  would  be  out  of  place  were  I  to  make  this  souvenir  to  Gen- 
eral U.  S.  Grant,  a  place  for  controversy  as  to  the  merit  or  demerit  of 
the  Clay  family  of  horses. 

The  Arabians  Leopard  and  Linden,  were  sketched  in  18S0,  as  illus- 
trative of  Arabian  blood  influence,  for  my  contemplated  "  Clay  History  ;" 
and  for  that  purpose  the  drawings  were  then  secured  by  copyright, 
little  dreaming  they  would  become  objects  of  special  interest  to  the 
public  through  the  untimely  taking  away  of  the  people's  idol,  General 
U.  S.  Grant. 

As  Herbert  S.  Kittredge  progressed  with  his  sketches  for  my  "  Clay 
History,"  he  was  mostly  among  old  men  who  knew  Henry  Clay  and 
had  bred  to  him.  In  their  telling  him  of  the  horse,  and  often  pointing 
out  striking  resemblance  in  some  son  or  daughter,  Kittredge  grew  to 
know  Henry  Clay  without  having  seen  him. 

Now,  the  mind  of  Kittredge  was  peculiar.  He  rarely  would  talk, 
but  would  absorb  the  mind  and  thoughts  of  such  as  talked  interestingly 
to  him.  I  often  felt  that  the  object  in  the  minds  of  others  was  so  photo- 
graphed upon  his  own,  that  with  his  pencil  he  could  reproduce  the  sub- 
ject a  la  Nasi.  Numerous  instances  of  this  gift  occurred  during  his 
three  years'  residence  with  me,  which  I  noted  down.  He  was  what 
might  be  termed  a  mind-reader  in  art.  One  case  of  many,  where  he 
was  put  to  a  test,  I  will  cite  as  interesting. 

Early  in  December,  1880,  Mr.  Orrin  Hickok  sent  me  from  San 
Francisco,  California,,  a  very  large  lithograph  of  Saint  Julian.  It  was 
badly  out  of  proportion,  not  looking  like  the  horse.  I  hung  it  in  Kit- 
tredge's  studio  in  my  house,  pointing  out  to  him  where  it  was  wrong, 
and  how  he  could  make  a  good  likeness  of  Saint  Julian  from  it.  When 
he  went  to  New  York  City  that  winter,  I  told  him  to  take  the  picture, 
hang  it  in  his  room,  and  get  Mr.  Goldsmith  to  come  and  criticise  it.  I 
met  Mr.  Goldsmith  there,  and  through  our  criticism  a  perfect  sketch 
was  made  for  me,  which  to-day  is  unequalled  as  a  likeness  of  the  horse. 

During  the  next  season,  when  Saint  Julian  was  in  the  circuit  and 
had  reached  Buffalo,  Kittredge  went  from  my  residence  to  that  city  and 


62  OLD  "HENRY  CLAY." 

sketched  the  horse  from  life.  When  Mr.  Hickok  and  Saint  Julian 
reached  Rochester,  we  met  Mr.  Goldsmith,  Mr.  Hickok,  and  others  in 
Saint  Julian's  box,  with  the  two  sketches, — one  made  through  criticism 
upon  the  lithograph,  and  the  other  from  life.  The  conception  sketch  was 
the  most  perfect.  Both  being  the  same  size,  none  could  tell  which  was 
the  one  from  life;  but  Mr.  Hickok  and  Mr.  Goldsmith  pronounced  my 
sketch  as  most  perfect  of  the  horse,  and  later,  many  duplicates  were 
made  by  Kittredge  from  my  sketch,  by  tracing  through  oiled  paper,  after 
the  manner  adopted  for  piratiiig  sketches,  pictures,  and  paintings. 

I  had  borrowed  from  Mr.  W.  A.  Wadsworth,  in  1879,  his  father's 
old  painting  of  Henry  Clay,  in  order  that  H.  S.  Kittredge  might  sketch 
a  copy  to  serve  as  frontispiece  to  my  "Clay  History;"  and  at  once 
secured  it  by  copyright  for  that  purpose,  to  which  Mr.  Wadsworth  had 
donated  it.  This  painting  I  hung  in  my  dining-room,  so  Kittredge 
would  see  it  every  time  he  sat  at  my  table.  To  forward  my  ends,  I, 
invited  Mr.  Worthington,  Mr.  Nelson  Thompson,  Mr.  M.  L.  Commins, 
Mr.  Robert  Whaley,  and  Mr.  Frederick  Fellows  to  meet  at  my  house 
and  criticise  this  painting  for  Kittredge.  Four  of  the  different  gentle- 
men had  owned  Henry  Clay  after  Mr.  William  W.  Wadsworth's  death, 
and  all  had  known  the  horse  since  his  arrival  from  Long  Island  at 
Geneseo.  Mr.  Ambrose  Worthington  kept  a  hotel  at  Geneseo,  and 
was  also  a  stage-route  owner,  mail  contractor,  and  for  fifty  years  the 
best  coach-horse  matcher  in  Western  New  York.  Such  a  man  is  a 
good  critic.  Mr.  Nelson  Thompson,  of  Penn  Yan,  was  his  partner  at 
one  time  in  the  stage  business.  Mr.  Thompson,  after  Mr.  Wadsworth's 
death,  wanted  Henry  Clay,  and  through  Mr.  Worthington,  who  lived 
at  Geneseo,  he  got  him,  only  half  an  hour  before  John  Purchase  of 
Long  Island  walked  into  the  office  with  money  in  hand,  intending  to 
take  the  stallion  back  to  Long  Island,  where  he  had  been  taking  his 
colts  by  the  dozen  as  yearlings,  every  year  since  Henry  Clay  came  into 
this  country.  Whatever  became  of  all  of  Henry  Clay's  colts  that  John 
Purchase  took  to  Long  Island  between  1S46  and  the  time  of  Colonel 
Wadsworth's  death,  nobody  knows;  for  John  Purchase  is  also  dead. 

However,  these  different  owners  of  Henry  Clay  came  repeatedly 
to  see  me  and  to  tell  Kittredge  over  and  over  again,  where  Van  Zant's 
painting  failed  of  being  correct. 

Kittredge  grew  enthusiastic  to  make  the  sketch,  so  I  removed  the 
painting  to  his  room.  The  sketch  he  made  and  brought  to  me  was  in 
pencil,  shaded  up  to  a  finish.  I  was  astonished  at  its  perfectness,  but 
had  faith  from  the  first  to  believe  he  would  do  it.     The  star  was  a 


OLD  "HENRY  CLAY." 


63 


crescent,  as  if  to  brand  his  princely  Oriental  blood.  This  Mr.  Van 
Zant  thought  unnatural,  so  in  his  painting  made  it  as  he  thought  it 
should  be,  which  improvements  are  faults  with  most  animal  painters. 

With  Kittredge,  if  there  was  a  spavin,  or  curb,  or  capped  hock, 
cocked  ankles,  goitre,  blind  eye,  or  any  physical  imperfection,  or  mark 
in  the  hoof,  or  in  fact  any  identifying  mark,  it  was  certain  to  be  in  his 
sketch.  Then,  too,  the  length  of  the  ear,  or  kink  or  wave  in  the  mane 
and  tail,  appeared  in  the  drawing  as  it  was  in  the  horse. 

This  pencil  sketch  was  submitted  to  each  one  of  these  five  named 
gentlemen,  and  warmly  endorsed  by  them,  as  perfect.  I  then  had 
Kittredge  shade  it  up  in  India  ink,  placing  it  with  my  collection  of 
Clay  sketches,  now  appearing  for  the  first  time  before  the  public,  in 
this  souvenir. 

A  feeling  of  injustice  to  poor  "  Kirby"  Van  Zant  began  to  come 
over  me.  But  for  "  Kirby"  Van  Zant  there  would  have  been  no  paint- 
ing of  Henry  Clay  from  which  to  make  this  sketch.  Could  I  not  in 
some  way  befriend  the  old  artist,  even  to  giving  him  credit  for  this 
sketch  in  my  book  ? 

The  late  Daniel  S.  Lathrop,  of  Albany,  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  T.  K. 
Van  Zant ;  he  was  also  a  friend  of  mine,  and  a  warm  admirer  of  young 
Kittredge.  I  wrote  Mr.  Lathrop  of  what  I  had  done,  also  of  my  feel- 
ings towards  Van  Zant,  asking  if  it  were  not  possible  for  him  to  make 
a  new  painting,  correcting  his  errors  so  that  it  could  appear  in  my 
work  to  his  credit  as  the  artist. 

Mr.  Lathrop  replied  "  that  Van  Zant  could  not  remember  the  horse, 
but  thought  he  could  correct  his  errors  in  the  painting,  of  which  he  was 
certain  there  must  be  many,  for  it  was  a  work  of  his  youth ;  although, 
much  as  he  would  like  to  try,  he  had  a  dread  of  seeing  the  old  painting." 

Mr.  Lathrop  advised  to  send  it  to  him,  which  I  did.  In  due  time 
he  wrote  requesting  me  to  come  down  to  Albany,  as  Mr.  Van  Zant  had 
corrected  his  malformations  in  the  old  painting,  in  a  copy ;  but  had  no 
recollection  of  the  horse.  I  went,  and  soon  saw  that  Mr.  Van  Zant  was 
justly  credited  as  a  superior  artist  in  the  manipulation  of  colors  in  oil, 
as  a  landscape-painter;  but  was  not  excellent  in  horse  portraiture,  nor 
vivid  in  memory ;  but  that  some  justice  might  be  awarded  to  him  in  the 
matter  of  his  old  painting,  I  remained  with  him  part  of  the  day,  leading 
a  horse  up  to  his  door  that  he  might  study  the  position  of  the  limbs  in 
repose,  after  which  I  ordered  him  to  paint  me  two  copies,  as  well  as  he 
could,  from  Wadsworth's  old  painting.  Mr.  Lathrop,  knowing  I  had 
secured  the  painting  by  copyright,  asked  that  he  might  have  two  copies. 


64 


OLD  "HENRY  CLAY." 


Both  these  orders  were  given  to  help  Mr.  Van  Zant,  who  was  needy. 
When  the  paintings  for  me  came  to  hand,  they  were  far  from  satisfactory 
to  these  old  gentlemen  critics;  nothing  but  Kittredge's  sketch  would  do 
for  them,  or  for  myself,  as  I  remembered  Old  Henry,  so  I  presented  one 
of  the  two  paintings  to  a  gentleman,  retaining  the  other.  In  these  two 
copies  Mr.  Van  Zant's  love  for  scenery  was  such,  that  he  would  not 
reproduce  the  horse  in  his  stable  as  in  the  original ;  but  made  an  entirely 
new  painting,  losing  all  semblance  to  the  original.  Kittredge,  in  his 
copy  of  the  painting,  reproduced  fact  (the  horse  in  his  stall).  As  a 
scenic-painter,  Van  Zant  would  be  grand.  Kittredge,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  concentrate  all  his  mind  upon  the  one  object.  This  I  en- 
couraged, so  that  most  of  my  sketches  represent  the  object  standing 
upon  a  plain  floor.  I  have  often  noticed  that  our  very  best  portrait-, 
as  well  as  animal-painters,  failed  in  all  but  the  object ;  Kittredge  him- 
self knowing  this,  depended  upon  his  young  associate,  Andrew  J. 
Schultz,  to  fill  in  the  background  where  one  was  desired,  in  which 
Schultz  excelled.  The  two  were  differently  gifted ;  Schultz  studying 
under  Kittredge  progressed  rapidly  in  horse  portraiture. 

I  have  already  said  more  than  I  intended  about  the  sketch  of  Henry 
Clay,  in  this  book.  No  horse,  to  my  knowledge,  had  such  a  remarkable 
life  as  Henry  Clay,  as  will  appear  in  my  history  devoted  to  him,  and  for 
which  he  was  sketched  as  a  frontispiece,  to  be  followed  by  over  seventy 
representative  sons,  daughters,  grandsons,  and  granddaughters,  all  by 
the  master-workman,  Herbert  S.  Kittredge. 

All  horsemen  and  readers  of  equine  literature  know  what  value  I 
put  upon  Henry  Clay;  they  also  know  that  my  persevering  and  vigorous 
championship  has  resurrected  him  from  the  oblivion  to  which  he  was 
rapidly  being  consigned,  and  has  given  him  a  name  and  fame  among  the 
different  families. 

Although  his  superior  value  was  patent  to  me  from  the  time  my 
attention  was  first  directly  called  to  him  as  a  remarkable  horse  and 
sire,  I  must  confess  that  it  was  not  until  after  months  and  even  years 
of  persistent  investigation,  that  I  discovered  I  must  look  to  Arabian 
blood  for  the  qualities  which  made  Henry  Clay  of  such  unusual  merit. 
At  first  I  was  satisfied  to  call  it  "  Henry  Clay,"  and  on  that  name  to 
build  my  foundation;  but  when  the  inquisitive  and  ever-insatiable  public 
continued  to  ask  the  reason  ivhy  1  placed  Henry  Clay  at  the  front,  I  was 
forced,  nolens  vo/ens,  to  seek  for  the  primitive  cause,  and  that  I  have 
proven,  to  my  own  satisfaction  at  least,  was  due  to  the  Arabian  ancestry. 
So,  as  Henry  Clay  has  seemed  from  some  unaccountable  reason  a  dif- 


OLD   "HENRY  CLAY."  g- 

ficult  name  for  the  dear  public  to  swallow  (a  "  rose  by  any  other  name 
will  smell  as  sweet"),  we  will  call  it  Arab,  for  it  must  eventually  mero-e 
into  that.  Arab  or  Clay,  it  is  all  the  same  to  me  so  long  as  the  blood 
still  continues  to  sustain  the  high  character  I  have  given  the  horse  for 
the  future.  For  this  reason  it  seems  amply  fitting  that  Henry  Clay 
should  have  a  place  among  these  royal  pages. 

His  Arabian  paternity  is  authenticated ;  and  upon  it  he  has  never 
thrown  a  stain  ;  but  the  rather,  has  shone  with  a  brilliancy  fairly  eclips- 
ing those  of  more  primitive  and  noble  birth. 

Horse  lovers  and  breeders  generally  know  full  as  well  as  I  can  tell 
them,  how  severely  I  have  been  criticised,  and  how  bitterly  I  have  been 
assailed  for  my  strong  and  perhaps  more  ardent  defence  of  Henry  Clay 
than  was  necessary.  I  have  never  written  to  wound,  but  from  the  earn- 
estness of  my  convictions,  knowing  the  horse  as  I  did,  and  as  my  oppo- 
nents did  not.  If  at  any  time  my  pen  has  written  more  harshly  than  it 
should,  I  crave  the  pardon  of  whoever  may  have  been  stung  by  its  point. 
All  I  ask  in  return,  is  that  those  who  have  maligned  me  most,  shall 
make  the  same  diligent  study  and  research  that  I  have,  and  wherever 
they  find  I  have  spoken  truthfully,  will  have  the  candor  to  acknowledge 
it;  and  in  the  course  o\  horse  events,  should  calamity  overtake  the  valua- 
ble representatives  of  the  blood  for  which  I  have  been  contending,  I  have 
still  one  further  request  to  make  even  of  my  bitterest  enemy:  that  if  one 
or  more  of  them  shall  ever  fall  into  his  hands,  he  will  have  the  honesty 
and  fairness  to  carry  out  in  breeding,  the  principles  which  I  have  sought 
and  proven  ;  then,  from  his  own  actual  experience  say  whether  these 
things  are  so. 

I  cannot  close  these  few  pages  without  a  word  for  the  noble  and 
gifted  young  artist  whose  name  graces  the  pictures  of  General  Grant's 
two  Arabian  stallions  in  this  book,  Herbert  S.  Kittredge.  But  for 
him  General  Grant's  Arabs,  Old  Henry  Clay,  and  many  others  would 
never  have  been  reproduced  in  such  faultless  manner,  so  perfectly 
true  to  life.  That  young  Kittredge  is  dead  is  a  public  calamity,  and 
we  feel  that  "we  shall  ne'er  see  his  like  again,"  although  his  young 
associate,  Andrew  J.  Schultz,  has  done  splendidly  in  an  effort  to  fill  the 
vacancy. 

Perhaps  the  author  of  this  book  may  be  pardoned  in  assuming  to 
himself  the  credit,  not  of  making  the  artist,  but  of  brinoqW  him  before 
the  public,  especially  in  horse  portraiture  ;  of  encouraging  his  continu- 
ance to  a  perfecting  himself  in  this  particular  direction,  recognizing  as 
we  did,  his  remarkable  gift  in  giving  to  the  horse  a  personnel — if  I  may 

9 


66  OLD   "HENRY  CLAY." 

be  allowed  the  expression — that  we  have  never  seen  equalled  by  any 
other  American  artist. 

I  would  also  here  thank  the  several  journals  who,  during  my  single- 
handed  contest  for  blood  and  breeding  in  our  American  horse,  have 
extended  to  me  numerous  courtesies  through  their  columns  when  so 
many  of  their  more  valuable  patrons  were  opposed  to  me. 

Again  allow  me  to  express  to  the  Messrs.  Lippincott  my  hearty 
satisfaction  for  the  elegant  and  faithful  manner  in  which  they  have 
represented  my  thoughts  in  the  getting  up  of  this  souvenir. 

Respectfully, 

RANDOLPH    HUNTINGTON. 


